Tears of the Rain
by AgentOhioS118
Summary: Ru'yah is born into the Brotherhood. But is she good enough to face the hardships that come with the job? I know just another one of these. Just try it, plz? It's got originality to it!
1. Prologue

Hello darlings! I have them up! Check them out, and if you like it, well, review and I shall continue it!

Disclamer: I don't own anything of Assassin's Creed NOTHING people. If I did... I wouldn't be here... No offense...

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><p>The cries of pain from the room in front of Kaliq Nejem did not surprise him. Quickly shutting the door he'd just come through, he rushed inside to his pregnant wife, 'Abal's side. He took her hand as the house maiden stood at her spread eagled legs. "One more strong push!" Kaliq's hand tightened around 'Abal's as she gave on last push and their baby was brought into the world. "It is a healthy little girl!" The house maiden came happily around to Kaliq and 'Abal.<p>

"Please, give her here." Kaliq said and his baby girl was placed in his arms. He smiled as she stared at him with wide soft honey brown eyes. There were three traits as a baby that showed the potential of being an assassin. Alertness, which showed in the soft honey brown eyes of his child as she glanced from to other things in the room and back. Good strong lungs were defiance, and with that thought she began to cry, quiet loudly too. And swiftness, speed, and agility. The latter three to be showed later on in life when she began to learn the basics. She showed all signs of being an assassin, but… She was a girl, and the Brotherhood considered girls to be weak. She would never be accepted, at least not easily.

Kaliq looked at his wife. "She is beautiful. She looks just like her mother." As he spoke, with a smile on his face, he passed her to 'Abal. He continued to smile down on his wife and newborn child, simply enjoying the happiness the new life brought. He looked up at the door when he heard the soft _click_ of it closing and was relieved to know they were alone.

"No," 'Abal's voice made him look back at the scene of his family. "She looks just like her father." 'Abal looked up to her husband and smiled fondly at him. For only a brief moment her face flashed in pain and Kaliq raised his eyebrow at her lightly. She simply shook her head and smiled brightly at him as if to say, 'Do not worry, I am fine.'

The two continued to smile fondly at the child and Kaliq gently slid, as to not cause his wife any more pain, onto the top of the bed. Much time passed and none of the occupants realized they had fallen into a slumber until the child's cries awoke Kaliq.

He awoke to see 'Abal convulsing, he gritted his teeth as he shot out of the bed and swiftly lifted his child into his arms and began to 'shhh' her. She fit perfectly and if he had had the time he would have stopped to appreciate it. But instead he gently set her into her crib that was only a foot or two away. Knowing his child was in a sturdy, safe place, he hummed quite loud to try and soothe her. With the continued cries of his child, he grabbed 'Abal's hand

"Honey, calm down…" Despite his outward appearance of being calm, inside he was panicking. His wife's heart began to slow, she continued to be unable to respond, and despite Kaliq not wanting to admit it; he could feel the accursed tears slowly making their way down his cheeks. He continued to speak even after 'Abal had stopped moving. Even after 'Abal's heart had stopped, but not once did Kaliq stop. Soon enough, his words were replaced with quiet sobs, which molded together with his daughter's.

Slowly he stopped crying and managed to gather himself. Now was the time to put things in motion. He stood, moving from his dead wife's side to the dresser in the corner. He spared his daughter a glance and sighed, his brows furrowing. Fumbling, he found the quill, inkwell and a piece of paper and moved to his desk. He set the items down and knelt down, as there was no chair for him to sit in. Dipping the quill into the inkwell, he swiftly began to write.

_Dear Umar,_

_I am leaving my newborn daughter; Ru'yah as I have decided to name her, in your care. There are things that need to be taken care of and most of which I cannot speak a word of. I pray to Allah that the Master will accept her under the protection of the Brotherhood and train her to be one of us. I have placed a specially designed bracer with this note, I hope it finds you safely. Please be sure that it is used for her. If for some unforeseen reason, she is not accepted, please be sure to raise her for me or find her a good place to be raised._

_Your Friend,_

_Kaliq Nejem_

Kaliq set the quill down heavily and sighed once more. He stood and gathered his blueprints of the bracer he had designed some odd months ago when he first questioned the gender of his child. He quickly set to work and within the time span of a few hours, Kaliq had completed the full bracer. It was styled just like his, with the exception of the blade extending in place of his ring finger.

He placed it gently in Ru'yah's crib next to her and frowned thinking to when she had stopped crying. He couldn't place in last couple of hours when she had quieted and brushed it off glad she was sleeping peacefully. If he followed through with his plans, he would likely never see her again. If nothing else, never in person again.

With a heavy heart, he lifted her to his chest and cradled her there. "I love you, Ru'yah. Grow up strong and prove to that stubborn old man just how powerful girls can be." He kissed her head and laid her in her crib again. Not once did she stir.

"Ghaliya!" He called out into the other room. The rustling of clothes could be heard as his ever loyal maiden came rushing into his room.

"Yes sir-" Her words faltered as she saw 'Abal and eye's saddened. She looked to Kaliq, knowing what would come.

"It is time." He held her eyes in his. He broke their eye contact and walked swiftly to 'Abal. He gently lifted her with a grim expression and soon turned to Ghaliya and the door that would decide his fate.

"Are you sure you want to do this, sir. You could stay." Ghaliya glanced to Kaliq as he turned to her a gentle smile gracing his handsome features.

"I am quite sure I need to do this, Ghaliya. Thank you. For everything you have sacrificed for me and my family. The last things I need you to do are get word to Umar and have him sent here. Stay here with Ru'yah, and once he arrives direct him to her crib in here. Once he has read my letter to him, give him Ru'yah and return to your family. You have been loyal and I thank you graciously. I wish I could do more for you." He smiled again at her.

"You need do no more, sir, I am glad I could be of service to you." She smiled at him and watched as he left out the door and walked calmly into light rain. The corners of her lips dipped down as turned her attention to the now crying child in the crib. "Oh young Ru'yah. You have many trials ahead of you. May Allah bless you well." She sighed as she cradled Ru'yah to her.

She turned on her heel to get word to Umar of the events that had transpired in the Nejem house that night.

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><p>So, review please, or I'll have to send Altair to kill you.<p>

Altair: I'm not doing SHIT for you -.-

Me: SO heartless... Oh well -goes to write some more-

**Edit: 11/29/14**

**Oh my gosh guys. I just. UGH. I have obviously changed some things… MUAHAAHA. I just felt that Kaliq would not kill himself (derp on me) and that EARLY PLOT DEVICES ARE SUPER CLIFFHANGERY AND AWESOME! Love you guys! ^.^**


	2. 1 A Refreshing Feeling

AOS118: OMFG… Here it is! The FIRST chapter of Tears of the Rain. Anyone else excited? I know I am… Just so freakin' EXCITED….

Alta ir: Anyone else totally want to kill her right now?

AOS118: You wanna go Alty?

Altair: Alty? Really?

AOS118: -looks down- Yeah…. EZIO! ALTYS BEING MEAN TO ME!

Altair: -.- Enjoy the story, or don't. I really don't care as long as she pays me.

Ezio: -hits Altair- Did hell freeze over? Why did you hit her?

Sparda: What about hell?

Disclaimer: I don't own Ac blah blah… Gah.

BTW: This will NOT be following all of Altair's killing of the 9 Templars. It's gonna kinda be a different out come from that … Sorry, haven't played the game enough to like recount the whole thing v.v

Also, I added a little thing, you'll see it if you've read this before, I'm not positive if it's true, but I thought the game mentioned it. I looked it up under the Assassin's Creed Wiki but it didn't mention where he was born just that he died in Masyaf when… Yea…. R.I.P Malik Al'Sayf.

*~* UPDATED *~*

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 1

_20 years later_

Ru'yah grunted with effort as she made her way to the highest spot on the Brotherhood's stronghold. She watched her hands grab each new opening they found, it was as if her hands had eyes of their own and picked the spots before her eyes registered where those spots were. Maybe it was because of the many times she'd scaled this wall that her brain just knew where to direct her hands and her feet.

As she reached the top, a hand appeared in front of her eyes and she gladly took it. As the hand hauled her up she looked up to meet Malik Al'Sayf's eyes, one of the very first members of the Brotherhood to accept her, who flashed her a quick brotherly smile. The two assassins stood at the edge for a second and Ru'yah took the time to study Malik; his hood was drawn back so she could see his face clearly. He had really short, jet black hair that was rather messy at the moment. His eyes were a really pretty brown that were shining with the smile his lips currently held. The two glowing orbs weren't like that ugly poop looking brown, they were the shining kind of brown. There was a small beard forming along his chin, with very little to no stubble along his jaw line. His nose was slightly crooked from one of the many fights he'd been in through the years, Ru'yah could never tell which fight since she was not too sure herself. She chuckled thinking of all the fights that Malik had brought upon himself.

After a moment of the two standing there, Ru'yah looking at Malik and the unsuspecting male staring adoringly at the sky, he turned to her and she casually smiled at him. It wasn't a flirty _hey there sexy~_, kind of smile it was more of the kind of smile that a young sibling would look up to an older sibling with.

"Would you like to sit?" Malik smiled at her as she nodded and the two sat at the edge with their feet hanging over.

As a comfortable silence began its comfortable lapse, Malik turned and looked at Ru'yah and how relaxed she was. She was propping herself up by her arms which were outstretched at a diagonal behind her, her eyes closed as she slowly inhaled and exhaled. He watched as her eyes slowly opened and she cracked a small half smile at the endless soft blue sky above her.

As Malik studied her, he spoke. "You know," and in the split of a second, he decided to give her one small piece of his background, since she always seemed to bother him about it. "I was actually born in Damascus. Not Masyaf." Ru'yah looked at him, her eyebrows knitting together, confused for a moment before her brain registered what he had spoken.

"How did you get here then?" He laughed and replied playfully, "That one is for another day." He smiled at her as she stuck her tongue playfully out at him and then returned to looking out over the vast bustling city below them.

"Besides, it is much more fun to tease you with little bits of information at a time!" He chuckled at the dark look she shot him before he too turned his attention back to the city and sky before them soaking in its endless beauty.

Watching the ant sized people below them and the soft rolling white clouds above them, Ru'yah ran a hand threw her messy hair pulling small strands from the braid that kept it from flying in her face and giggled lightly to herself. Her giggle turned into a chuckle at Malik's weird look he gave her as she shook her head to indicate that she didn't know why she was giggling so madly. For some reason, she just felt... _Good_. Better than good, she felt amazing! After her freeing from reality climb, she was now sitting with someone she considered her only true family, and just enjoying life in general!

After she calmed down she looked back over at Malik.

"So…" She started, trying to gain his attention, "What was the point in having me climb the Brotherhoods highest keep? Are we having some secret meeting where we are going to conspire against life?" She lightly chuckled at her own joke, but sobered when he did not. She tried again for a light approach to the very serious expression on her friends face. "You do know I do this pretty much, every day." She cracked him a smile hoping to ease the tension that seemed to be playing between them uncomfortably in the air.

He shook his head at her and spoke, still staring at the slowly descending sun, "To help with your endurance, you may be a natural climber Ru'yah, but you have to have the endurance for it too. I have noticed that you seem to be easily short of breath when you have to run. You should probably do this every day so your lungs can adjust to needing to be able to work. Also, please start jogging every morning." After a short pause he added, "And I understand that you are a lonely child and have nothing better to do around here." He also smiled lightly at her to show he too could joke.

Ru'yah mumbled a couple curses at Malik but smiled at the chuckle she received. She knew that Malik knew that she hated his jokes when he referred to how much Looking up, Ru'yah studied the sun set. She watched the sky cast blues, purples, pinks, reds, oranges and finally yellows into the darkening sky. Soon they would have to leave or they would have to descend to the bottom in absolute darkness. There would be no moon tonight to guide them.

A thought hit her that she'd never even really considered when she was up there, granted she'd never been up there when the sun was setting.

"It is really pretty up here."

"Mmhmm."

She frowned. It was not her fault that she could not see the sky so clearly while sitting inside a building most of the time.

Suddenly she heard a foot connect with the side of the stronghold lightly and not a moment later push off and reconnect.

Ru'yah moved slightly closer to Malik and whispered close to his ear, "I hear someone climbing the back of the tower. Whoever it is, they are moving normally, not really trying to get the drop on us like most would." Malik smiled at her keen ears and whispered back, "It is probably Altair letting us know that the Master has need of us. That or he just wants to keep ruining your free time."

"He does do that a lot does he not?"

The two shared a quick laugh before a voice behind them spoke as if they always knew what they were talking about. Which said voice did not.

"The Master has need of you, Ru'yah."

Ru'yah and Malik looked knowingly at each other and smiled. Ru'yah stood slowly before stretching and turning to look at Altair. His hood was up like always, so his face was shadowed by the hood. But Ru'yah didn't need it to be down to know just what he looked like. She had seen his face enough when they were younger to know it had not changed all that much. His eyes were a pretty hazel that was a little bit like looking into a lightly muddied pool. But the color was as if the mud were to be clean. And naturally they held their almond shape showing that he was indeed not amused, like normal. He had stubble along his face and sturdy cheek bones. Ru'yah kinda wanted to test his cheekbone's sturdiness…

Ru'yah moved past him barely even making an acknowledgment of the other. There was a type of relationship between her and Altair that was more of a hate to love relationship. But it was a system that worked, and neither of the two novice assassins argued it. Neither wanted to be in the same room much less make 'unnecessary' contact. Whether said contact be simply looking at each other to touching. She moved to the 'dark side' and made a Leap of Faith into the hay pile waiting to catch her at the bottom. She lay within the roughly soft hay needles for only a moment and then was up in a second and jogging into the interior of the stronghold. Not even taking notice if her companion and her very own personal "stalker", as she liked to call him, followed. She took a left and made her way up the stairs and stopped next to Altair, who was somehow already up there, facing the Master. She'd never know how he did that ninja crap and therefore, it would forever and always bother her to her core. Just another thing he was good at, great...

"Thank you Altair, for getting Ru'yah."

The Master turned back to the two and ghosted over to them. Ru'yah was pretty sure he just floated over to them, maybe he was a midget and his cloak just concealed... Wait... She could see his legs. She mentally sighed, that ruled out one possibility. He stood in front and between the two. And as he began to speak, more of the Brotherhood's inhabitants trickled into the building and up the stairs, also crowding outside of the entrance. This did not go unnoticed by Ru'yah who was standing as quiet as ever and trying to pay the utmost attention to the Master.

"Ru'yah. I have noticed that you have been focusing on the more physical parts of being an assassin despite you already being fit enough to perform the tasks that would be asked of you, rather than the mental. Why is that?"

Ru'yah barely blinked or thought about what to say before the answer spewed out of her mouth like word vomit. "Because, I have learned all Malik and the others have to teach me. So Malik took that opportunity to continue keeping me in shape. And to test me more." She had to force herself to end her sentence there rather than add to it, 'since I am a young lonely child with nothing better to do.'

The Master nodded his approval and hummed as he looked at Ru'yah. He circled quietly around the two and thought of another question for her.

"Do you remember why you were accepted into the Brotherhood?"

This stopped Ru'yah slightly, "Umm, I am not entirely sure, I just know that I was put under Umar's care by my father after he disappeared." She smiled fondly thinking of her step-father, and then frowned slightly when she remembered that he was also Altair's biological father.

The Master noticed this and hummed thoughtfully to himself again. "You are frowning after smiling while thinking of Umar's kindness to you. Why is this?"

Ru'yah knew then that this was to test her ability to process the things said to her and to reply in a timely and convenient way, and probably her ability to tell the truth when needed. Or he was simply screwing with her, but hey, everyone was already aware that she and Altair hated each other's guts. So why not, right? "Because, I thought of how he is also Altair's biological father and I faltered at the thought." She hung her head slightly for a second at letting such a ridiculous thought plague her mind. But when she thought of how he'd always acted towards her, she held her head high and stared straight ahead.

This grueling process continued, the Master would ask her a question, and she in turn would answer. Some of them she chose to lie about, deciding she did not care whether he knew the truth or not. She cared more about the others around them knowing the truth, that including Umar, Altair and Malik. She risked him calling her out for lying, but she did not mind, she knew she'd lie again anyways. So how could it possibly hurt her? Altair's occasional fidgeting at her answers caused her to smile to herself numerous times. When finally the words she'd been waiting to hear her entire life came.

The Master's next words surprised her, she had only heard them once and had been expected to memorize them not because of her gender or age, but simply as another equal member of the Brotherhood. She was never treated specially and she never wanted to be. It just showed the other males that she learned exactly as they had.

"Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember…"

"Nothing is true." Ru'yah replied without even thinking about it.

"Where other men are limited, by morality or law, remember…"

"Everything is permitted." Even as the Master said each separate part, Ru'yah repeated the words he said to her in her head. She'd never expected to hear them once again, or so soon for that matter. She certainly wasn't the youngest to be officially inducted into the Brotherhood, but being inducted before her step-Poophead was more than enough for her.

"We work in the dark, to serve the light. We are assassins." The Master finished and smiled at Ru'yah.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted." Altair, Malik, Kadar and just about all of the others in the Brotherhood repeated.

A shadow was cast over the Master, going unnoticed by all, as he began to speak once again. Ru'yah caught it in her peripheral, and she was sure that Altair had too. Obviously his next words excited him more than they should. "Now all that remains is to remove your ring finger."

Fear spiked through her mind and she almost glanced back to see if Umar was there. But she kept a straight face and continued to face the front as Umar stepped up then and smiled at Ru'yah even though he wasn't in her peripherals, "Al Mualim that will not be necessary. The blade her father spent most of her pregnancy designing is specially designed to avoid the removal of her ring finger."

The Master stopped in front of her clearly being caught off guard by the news and quietly spoke, "It appears Kaliq was... _too_... prepared for my kindness." His gaze turned to Ru'yah as he spoke the last four words. He pushed past it and smiled kindly at her, then promptly turned his smile to Umar.

Ru'yah then found herself blushing at the way Umar phrased his sentence, he made it sound like she was the one that had gotten pregnant. "But it works just like the rest of the others. We will need only to scar her finger with the symbol of our Brotherhood to ensure that she is a known Assassin and sworn to secrecy and her blade. Which my son has taken the liberty to help us with this part." The Master had moved on and Umar moved in front of her to flash her a quick reassuring smile.

Al Mualim's smile faltered and he began to frown. "We do not have those kinds of materials here, Umar." There was a pause in his sentence as the two assassin's looked at each other, one challenging the other silently. Al Mualim spoke once again, ending the tense silence. "You should know that."

Umar continued to smile a slightly smug smile as he glanced towards Altair. "Altair?"

At his name, Altair left momentarily and returned, stepping up with a hot iron brand that was shaped in the Assassin's symbol as Umar moved to the side allowing Altair to return to Ru'yah's left side. Altair stood next to her and under his breath, sharply spoke to her, "Face me." Ru'yah did as she was told and looked at the brand uncertainly. It looked to be exceptionally hot. She sighed, it probably was just because that was Altair for ya!

A soft smile graced Al Mualim's lips as he watched the scene unfold before him. "I am assuming you have thought up a plan to test her a little extra then?"

Umar smiled, "Of course. It was actually Altair's idea too." Ru'yah huffed mentally and physically rolled her eyes knowing Altair could see her. Umar turned to the gathered Assassins of the Brotherhood, "As you all know, many of you have had to endure the extreme pain of losing your finger for this blade. And it would appear unfair to your eyes that Ru'yah would not. But Ru'yah," He turned to her as he continued, "You need only to stand the brand for a full minute, as that is how long I am afraid it will take to permanently scar it into your skin without making it too hot and possibly burning your entire finger off. Which would make the brand completely useless to us."

Ru'yah nodded with confidence that she'd beast this with no problems and held her left hand up with her ring finger exposed. She moved every other finger away from her ring finger the best that she could. And without warning, Altair clamped the brand at the base of her ring finger and squeezed, probably a lot more than he needed to, for a full minute.

Not once did Ru'yah cry out in pain or fall or stagger in any way. She flinched at the initial heat of the metal connecting with her skin, but stood, firm, confident and in control. Even though in the back of her mind, alarms were going off that were telling her to step away from Altair and maybe give him a good right hook and try to mess his face up, but she wasn't going to put all of the training and the control she used to put up with Altair just because of his ignorant self.

Ru'yah also decided that as soon as she caught Altair in a dark and unpopulated area... He was getting the shit kicked out of where the sun don't shine so he'd have an idea of what it felt like.

After the minute was up Altair released the brand from her finger, reluctantly, and moved to put it back within the embers of the fire. Ru'yah watched as he went and glared little imaginary daggers into his heart.

While Altair was doing so Ru'yah inspected her finger and smiled lightly. It hurt like hell, yes, but was totally worth it. It was going to leave one neat ass scar! She would also officially have an epic story for her kids because hell to the yes was she going to have them! Screw every other Assassin since they were allowed to knock girls up and have them carry their crappy children, she was going to get knocked up herself... Jesus did that sound extremely wrong even to her... Oh well. It was a very wrongly right thought!

She also figured she'd have to walk around putting up with the lingering pain even though she'd rather go wash her finger in the stream to give the poor digit some type of relief. But that was okay, she was one tough chick, a little bit of pain on her finger would be totally cool for the rest of the day and night and possibly carry into the next day!... Boy was she _WRONG. _

A hand gripped her shoulder, the fingers digging into the ligament and she looked up to Al Mualim. Before he could speak, cheers erupted all around them, and he had to stop for a moment to let the rest of the Assassins calm down. Even then it took a second for the ones outside to calm down. Once every one had finished their screaming for her, he spoke five words that changed Ru'yah's life completely. Five different words that would always, always follow her. (And give her another epic story to tell those not so distant kids of hers!)

The words that gave her the acceptance that she was always fighting for to prove to Altair, to everyone, that she could indeed be a part of the Brotherhood forever even after she died, she'd go down in history as one of the bravest Assassin's ever. And nothing, NOTHING would get in the way of her hopes and dreams.

Not even Altair.

"Welcome to the Brotherhood, Ru'yah."

_Meanwhile…_

A man adorned in a long dark cloak smirked lightly to himself as he heard the cheers erupt from the stronghold and eventually Al Mualim's words that confirmed to him that she had made it. 'I could never be more proud, Ru'yah.'

He turned, swishing the cloak to the left as he made his leave of Masyaf, and eventually Syria completely.

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><p>AOS118: Well? What'd you tink? Review and fave? Hmmm? Especially since I have redone this one<p>

Alair: DON'T DO IT….

AOS118: -smacks him- Shut up, you!

**Edit: 11/29/14**

**Soooo. Slightly new stuff, and some altered to fit other changes! Cannot wait to get to that tricky 12 for you guys!**


	3. 2 Past Mistakes

AOS118: Ok.. .So I've been like, Internet less for 4 months. And I've had it back for maybe 2 and now I'm just wanting to update. I figured if I update maybe they'll be more popular eventually I doubt it! It might not be too long though, so don't get your hopes up…But I'll write it anyway. And Altair couldn't be here for the beginning. Malik's mad… Anyway! ONWARD. So I JUST reuploaded it cause... I replaced something over it and then... Yea...

Disclaimer: I don't own any Assassin's Creed stuff, blah, blah, blah… ya know. That stuff..

**~Updated~**

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 2

_1 year later_

The next year was boring. For the most part it was. There were actually some good things that made Ru'yah enjoy her official life as an assassin. Altair ended up getting demoted for getting Kadar killed, failing his mission and ignoring the three most important tenets of the Creed. Ru'yah thought it to be funny. And of course, she would never dare to express her happiness at it in public, but behind the scenes? You got to bet she partied like hell!

"_Deserves it too." Ru'yah sat with her back to a wall as she sharpened her hidden blade. _

_Malik chuckled quietly to himself as he sat down silently next to her. "Talking to yourself some more, huh?" _

_She jumped, dropping the knife in between her bent knees, "Malik!" She smacked his arm playfully. "You scared me! I could have taken _my _arm off!" The two shared a laugh at her cheesy joke before Malik spoke sullenly, answering her unspoken question. "He really did, he got Kadar killed." As grief engulfed Malik, Ru'yah wrapped an arm around him and gave him a comforting hug. Even forgetting to pick up the dropped knife._

Altair would later learn of Al Mualim's treacherous intentions and personal plans with the Apple and he would in turn end up killing Al Mualim. And you must be wondering, did the Brotherhood's members fend for themselves? No, another member of the Brotherhood (who was voted in) took over the head position up until now. Now was when the top assassin's would begin to think of a replacement, and hard they would think.

Many were concerned with who would take over, granted, not one living soul minded Al Mualim's replacement. But it was still in the forefront of everyone's minds. And still no one really put too much thought to it, they all still had work to do if anyone hoped to defeat the Templars and, hopefully, bring some peace to the world for some time.

As would be expected, all Ru'yah would do now is missions that Aamir, the new Mentor, sent her on. Even the ones she did not want, she'd suck it up and take it. She never felt like arguing because Aamir was already verbally abused enough because of Al Mualim before him. After what happened, any of the future rulers would be hounded on. Maybe not so ferociously, but no one is automatically going to just take so willingly to the next Mentor, especially someone who basically rises from the ashes of being a Novice. But, hopefully the current generation could change that. Just maybe they could, if they got a good ruler who would never think of betraying the Brotherhood.

Don't get her wrong, there are rulers before Al Mualim that would NEVER have even had the thought pop into their head about betraying the Assassin Brotherhood. But that was then, and this is now. This generation would just have to ensure that the next, never considered it, so that every generation continues to be faithful to the cause they're fighting for.

She was not only sent on assassination missions, but also intel gathering missions.

She'd have to pickpocket people and let me tellll you! That is not nearly as possible as all those other Assassin's make it look!

Sometimes someone would get smart and realize she was following them. So they'd know that she was there. THEN she'd have to deal with the guards. But first she'd have to try to lose them and regain them, which normally failed. Hardly ever an exception. And those guards did not give out free cards just because she was an assassin. Even in Masyaf.

There was also the easier one, eavesdropping on two people's conversations. That was easy, because all she did was sit down and listen. Not hard. I mean you casually walk over, sit down listen and watch them walk away... BOOM! Done. Nailed it!

There were easier ones besides those and she did not mind them, but they still sucked sometimes. Sometimes the guards were all in pissy moods and other days, they recognized her. Or on the same day, they were PMSing AND recognized her. Sometimes, they let her off with a 'warning to not do it again', and three minutes later? She was doing whatever it was they told her not to do again.

And now that she was an official Assassin, she did not need to be babysat on missions. She was a big girl and went out on her own with her big girl panties and EVERYTHING! Except for the missions that required more than one assassin. Then she was pretty much babysat. (Which speaking of babysitting... Who sits on babies? What does that accomplish?)

But as the only girl, she still was not well liked, even after a long and hard year of trying to be accepted how she'd like to be. There were people who did not like her being there, you need an example of who? Altair. 'Nough said... But I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and tell you why. He did not believe in there being a girl who was part of the Brotherhood. (Like for real? Sexist!) Again, even after all this time, and the help she offered to him on a daily basis. She got him food, helped divert guards from him, woke him up some days so he didn't oversleep. See, she was not the only over-sleeper! Nuh-uh. Not to mention she took a huge risk with _her_ life to save his so he could kill Al Mualim. If she hadn't of been there… Lord knows what would have happened! He could have died! Now wait... Why'd she save him again?

And. Yes, there were other girls there who did servant types of things, but that was not the point. They were sworn into secrecy, and if you were discovered, you were killed. End of the story. She had more weight on her shoulders.

Right now Ru'yah was currently climbing the outer walls of the Brotherhood and was quiet happy. It was early in the morning, and she'd gotten plenty of sleep, so surrounding her was a cheerful atmosphere. Her cheery mood increased as she continued her climb. In case you are wondering, she did take Malik's advice and started running in the mornings so her lungs did much better now these days.

As she climbed higher, the air freshened better and the voices below her became quieter. The birds flew overhead enjoying life as it was and for a split second, Ru'yah wished she could join them. To fly to unbelievable heights and not give a crap about the world! Just to enjoy the breeze ruffling her feathers…. 'Oh, how I wish, just _wish_ I could be there too...'

Her thoughts drifted off to an end when she reached the top of the tower. Sighing, she pulled herself up and almost fell right off at the surprise standing there.

Altair reached out and pulled her forward by the front of her hood near her right cheek; before she fell. His hand slid down to hold her elbow until she steadied herself and the two stood there for a moment in an awkward silence until Altair spoke.

"The Master has need of us."

Ru'yah noticed the "us" instead of the normal snideful, "you." She jerked her elbow from his grip, and sneered at him. Yes she knew she was being a child, but she didn't understand his problem. She had never done a single freaking thing against him. Granted he must have been upset once she had moved in with his father and him, but that was not her fault! And she was only what? A few hours old? Her mother died after she was born and her father up and left her! Where else was she going to go?! The street? Nope, screw that! Besides, her father had requested specifically Umar, to take care of her.

Her features softened when he only stood there, waiting for her answer. She hated to be angry with him, but he was such a boy! And let's face it, that's all boys do, infuriate girls. Even other boys are angered by other boys. It's their job.

But then she felt it, the bad mood from "that time of the month." More commonly known as 'hell.' Why did she have to deal with Altair, especially when she's freaking dealing with all that PMS! It just wasn't fair. Aamir could send anyone else for her, they could go tell Altair first! Granted, they probably did and he blew them off saying that he would go find her... Oh well.

Ru'yah's face turned into a pout and her mood turned even sourer. "I guess he sent YOU specifically?" She was hoping to catch him off guard, but Altair was Altair and he wasn't fazed at all.

"No, I opted to come find you, since I knew you'd be climbing." Okay, so maybe Aamir did not send someone else who got blown off by Altair... "It's all you do in your free time. Maybe you should find another hobby, one not so _obvious_ to everyone else."

The way he said it just enraged her more. She really did not like him in the first place and because of her monthly issue, she did not want to deal with his bullshit! She snapped back at him, not caring that they were both adults. Again, she needed to be a child because of the month. And at the moment, if she hurt his feelings, she had nothing to lose at all. SO she let her emotions run wild and went with it. "If everyone knew then what was the point in you deciding that you had to come find me?! And at least I didn't get demoted a year ago and be hated for months by everyone in the Brotherhood, because I think I'm so freaking good that I cannot accept the help of others and know how to follow simply stated rules!"

That did it. Altair grabbed her by the cuff of her assassin's garb and pushed his face close to hers. It was obvious they were both getting sick of the others attitude. But little did Altair know, that Ru'yah only acted how she did because of him. And little did Ru'yah know that Altair only acted how he did because of her. He couldn't put two and two together to make four. And neither could she. "That may be so, but I learned. And I made up for my mistakes! I don't see you making mistakes, and then working your ass off to fix them! Also mend relationships to at least acquaintance with others too!" Altair had been steadily moving himself forward and Ru'yah back. By the end, both were by the edge, and neither noticed. Neither seemed to care enough to look. In his rage, Altair shoved Ru'yah, who then stumbled and tried to catch herself with her foot, except there was nothing to catch herself on.

So back she fell. She heard Altair scream out her name and watched as he disappeared. Where was he going when she was about to fall to her death?! She was about to yell out to him but realized it was useless. Whatever he planned on doing, Ru'yah was falling faster and faster and there was no hay below her. This was going to be her end, her hopefully quick and painless end... Who was she kidding? She was going to feel every bone in her frail body break all at once before her head slams into the ground, her skull too breaking and piercing her brain. Finally shutting her body down.

She saw her life flash before her eyes and what she saw surprised her. How was it possible?! There was no way that could ever happen, she'd never allow it, and yet... It's hard to deny something like this, especially when she's about to be a mangled piece of nothingness... At least she didn't have to worry about that crap she just saw coming true! Right?

But there was no more time to think. As she prepared herself for the sound of her body hitting the ground and the cracks of her bones bending in odd and unnatural angles; Altair was above her and coming down fast. Why the HELL did he just jump off of the side of the building, was he insane?! So now, not only would she die, but he too would die! They could NOT leave Umar alone! Allah, he's crazy!

What he did next surprised her even more than her very own apparent future. When Altair reached her, they had little time to be prepared for the ground below them. Reacting with nimbleness, Altair wrapped his left arm around Ru'yah's torso and tried to grab the side of the tower. But his hands only slipped and did not find purchase in the smooth stone. The few cracks there were to grab, his hand gripped, but both of their bodies speed and velocity knocked his hand from the holding point.

Ru'yah turned her head from his hand on the stones and watched as the ground leaped up to meet them. Next thing she knew, she found herself watching the clouds in the sky the next second. The soft hue of the white clouds soothed her fast paced mind. Giving her some relief as she readied her body and mind for the inevitable. She closed her eyes and waited for death's sweet embrace. Hoping for a soft one, one where she could leave the world and see her mother waiting. She knew, just knew deep within her soul that if she saw her, she'd know her. No matter what. No matter where or how, either.

When Altair hit the ground, the force of his landing was propelled through him and into her and Altair's arms' grip loosened and she found her own arms and hands scrambling to find Altair below her as she was thrown back into the air and landed next to Altair.

During her time in the air for a second time she realized that the force her head was about to hit the pavement at, would take her memory out slightly. That or jar it very badly and it'd take her some prompting to remember these very fast paced events.

And in the back of her mind, panic was present, Altair hit the ground first… Was there even a possibility that he was alive? There was no way he could have mad- And then it happened; her head slammed into the ground. She made an 'oomfph' like sound and her head lolled to the left. She stared at Altair's still form, her hand reaching up to him as if she could wake him up. When black spots blotted her vision and she smiled to herself thinking just how beautiful he truly was. At least when his frown wasn't making his face all... blegh like. But the last thing she remembered was blacking out and the voices of the crowd members surrounding them. Like jeeze people, they were going to be okay, right?

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><p>AOS118: So yeah. I felt like a good cliff hanger was in order… ILOVEYOUGUYS…<p>

Altair: No she doesn't… And she accidently DELETED it...

AOS118: COMMER U!

-runs around for forever-

-gives up-

AOS118: Anyway darlings. Review, fav and tell me stuff! And SHUT UP ALTY!

Altair: :p

**Edited 11/29/14**

**UPDATED. Whoop! Here we go peeps!**


	4. 3 Aamir

AOS118: This is dedicated to Anon canon (where ever ya are!) to giving me the inspiration on continuing this! The review is on my profile if you wish to see why it inspired me so much! This one is might not be as long as I thought it'd be! I've got my heart in this one I swear So read it and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN AC

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 3

Ru'yah felt as though she were floating. Drifting in a never ending expanse of cool to the touch space. In reality she was more than likely lying somewhere unconscious, but was she going to argue the fact that she didn't need to do anything? No! Thankfully her subconscious had been merciful and decided she deserved a break from everything in her life. Especially her memories lately. Boy did those tend to kick her ass! Speaking of her life, what had caused her to be here? Where ever 'here' was.

All she could think of was her climbing the Stronghold... She got to the top and Altair was there. Their new Master needed to see them, being why Altair had been there... She and Altair had argued, and then... Nothing. That was odd... Oh well... No need to dwell on it and ruin her 'break.'

Her 'break', as she was calling it, did not last long. Sadly. What felt like seconds were gone, and before she knew it, Ru'yah was awaking in a bed to the sound of voices. One could easily tell there were multiple voices, due to the different pitches, and genders. But she couldn't yet get a count of how many voices, how sad. Right? Right...

She tried once to pry her eyes open without moving too much of her body. She couldn't, they felt like they were glued together. She tried again, and still she received nothing from her efforts. She just wanted to relieve them of their pain. They felt crusty and disgusting. Like there were bits of sand between her actual eyeball and the lid that kept the light out. Blegh! At least the sand would help keep some light out!

Ru'yah tried a third time and voila! She peeked open her left eye (which was like HEAVEN once she pried that sucker open with sheer eyelid powered muscles!), she was going to try to look around, but was met with bright, blinding lights that came from every angle. And she meant EVERY angle. That brightness she was experiencing was angering and irritating so she quickly shut her eye again; and then, bracing herself for the brightness, she peeked open both of her eyes (WHOOO EYE RELIEF FUNDS PLEASE!). She let them adjust and then began to look around. Even though her adjustment time, was quiet long, she was happy to finally be able to see right again.

Instead of rushing blurs and bright spots, like she expected, she could make out actual body shapes. And she could tell that it was probably around midday, with all that light seeping in through the gaping windows.

Ru'yah figured she'd been out a fairly long time since it took so much for her eyes to adjust.

There were people in white robes rushing around, some began to move to her as if they were going to talk to her or interact period with her, before they moved off to somewhere else. They were going back and forth. Back and forth. Most of the people wore white robes, a hospital? Probably since some of the robes had small to big stains of red blotted around on their clothes.

Maybe… Maybe she was in the Brotherhood's personal little medical bay… But there were so many people, she couldn't possibly be in that small space. There was a drawn back curtain, which was meant for a patient's privacy, but was not in use for her. Was she injured that badly? Did they need to keep a constant watch on her? Was she not doing well? What was going on?

The stone walls weren't very comforting either, but she did recognize where she was slightly. Her guess had to be right! (Despite the size of the room.) She had to be here, but… Still something was too off about the whole situation.

As the many different voices passed her, she began to pick them out better. But none of them clicked with her memory. Not a single voice was familiar. Where was she? Was she really where she believed herself to be? As more bodies rushed by her, there were two voices that stuck out at her the most.

She closed her eyes as she continued to listen intently since she couldn't seem to move her neck and head as much as she'd like. She could turn her head just barely to the left and not at all to the right besides from the position it was already in. She focused in on the two voices she recognized the most and felt a small tremor of shock roll through her when she registered what they were saying.

"… major head trauma to both." A man's voice, he sounded unnaturally calm, yet angered. Why would he be angered? It's not the patients fault they had head trauma. Under the anger and tranquility, there was that I-Know-Exactly-What-I'm-Doing persona.

Ru'yah sighed quietly, there was obviously stuff from this conversation that she had missed. A sigh from the man followed before he continued. "What had they been doing?!" It sounded as if he was even more outraged than he had been a moment ago. Ru'yah couldn't tell if he was talking to someone or if he was just mumbling to himself. Granted why would he be talking to himself like that?

"I had need of her." This voice was calm and collected, obviously they knew what they were talking about and clearly defending whoever the "her" was. "She was not with me, and I did not know where she could be, and he was willing to go out and find her, I suspect he knew where to find her. Why else would he be willing to go find her, the two aren't exactly the best of friends." There was a pause, and a light chuckle, before the same voice continued in a more suspecting manor. "Why would their actions matter in this situation? Are you saying they are to blame for what happened? That it couldn't be just an accident?" That was… Aamir? Why was he here? If he was here, and he were talking to someone in the building, surely someone had been injured! Wait... It was her and... _He_ must be injured. She mentally smacked herself, of course!

How could it take her _this_ long to figure out just who the, who, what, when, where and why of these things the people had been talking about. So much for being an Assassin!

"Because," It was that man from before, "they caused quite the uproar in the streets of Masyaf! People spreading rumors, asking if it was true. Speculating whether it was true that one of them tried to kill the other!" There was a pause in the conversation. "Are you not concerned?"

There was a slight lull in the conversation as Aamir chuckled lightly, "Of course not. They may not like each other, but they don't dislike each other that much. They would never dream of taking it that far!" He sounded so sure of himself... Granted Ru'yah knew as well as anyone should that Altair had no intentions of killing her. It _was_ an accident.

Ru'yah, deciding that she was tired of being talked about like she wasn't lying right there; opened her eyes again and then began trying to sit up, moaning and groaning as she tried. When she'd decided to sit up and talk to the other rooms occupants, she hadn't decided to moan and groan and wake the whole of Masyaf up. It was then that she regretted her decision to sit up. She heard a few gasps, and outspoken thoughts, as nurses had paused momentarily in their tasks at seeing her sit up. They seemed to contemplate going and helping her or bringing her something, but a stern look from the doctor sent them on their way. Ru'yah looked to the two men sitting opposite of her and smiled sheepishly. "I got tired of hearing both of you talk about me…" She sat quietly staring at the doctor. The other voice, that she had been pretty sure belonged to Aamir, was nowhere to be found in the room... Odd. She hadn't finished her thought and the way the doctor looked at her, she didn't want to.

"She is awake!" The sudden outburst from a random nurse scared Ru'yah from her thoughts and she jumped, shaking the bed. Consequently she fell back onto the pillows and groaned. She had JUST sat up. _Now_ she'd have to exert extra energy to sit back up again! She stopped and thought for a moment that maybe, she did not really need to get up, she could just continue to lay there... She did enjoy the soft sheets under her and the light sheet covering her, probably to help quell the night's chill. Nah, it'd be better for her to get up and get moving! The sooner the better right?

"Indeed this is... Very good!" There was a clap following the voice, and Ru'yah sat there trying to figure out the voice. It was male, as far as she knew. And it was pretty familiar. She figured she should probably know it, and this was a ridiculous amount of time it was taking for her to remember. She felt like she'd just been listening to it, but for some reason it was as unfamiliar as ever!

Ru'yah, struggling to sit back up, looked at the speaker. She froze. It was Aamir, the Brotherhood's new Master. He moved, with lethal grace, over to the 21 year olds side and smiled. "How good to see you awake, Miss Ru'yah. I trust you feel alright?" _'My dumb self couldn't figure out someone's voice who has been speaking to the doctor for quite a bit of time now?'_ She sighed mentally at herself.

Ru'yah was too shocked to say anything, instead, for the moment; she just smiled and nodded her head. She finally pushed herself up into a sitting position, it was about bloody time. Gathering her voice she began to speak, trying not to stutter uncertainly in her words, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I feel quiet great at the moment, actually. My head hurts a little bit, but that is beside the point." She gave Aamir another reassuring smile as he looked at her with uncertainty.

The doctor narrowed his keen, cat like eyes, and mumbled as he stood and promptly turned away. It had sounded as if he had been saying something about '_Needing a coffee break.'_ She smiled lightly at him in thanks as he exited. Granted, she didn't get anything in return, but it didn't really bother her. She was being polite, and that was good enough for her, besides she figured he had other things to attend to. He probably didn't have time to waste on smiling back at patients.

Instead, Ru'yah looked over to Aamir, "Who was he?"

"That was Abu al Khayr, he's the head doctor of this particular infirmary. He's been gracious enough _not_ to turn you away." Aamir responded turning to face her.

"Oh." After a couple moments of silence, Ru'yah gathered her courage and asked what was on her mind. "Were the two of you... talking about Altair and I?"

"You heard that huh?" He looked down at his intertwined hands. "Yes. But. That is not important at the moment." He cut Ru'yah off as she tried to protest, but when he waved his hand in her direction, she quieted. A heavy sigh escaped both the Assassin's as they sat in the comfortable silence.

Aamir gently placed his hand on Ru'yah's forearm; he gave her a gentle smile as he spoke, "Just give me a shout if you need anything, Ru'yah." She smiled back and nodded. "Okay." He turned, still with the soft smile gracing his lips and stepped around the curtain, pulling it closed for Ru'yah to have some privacy.

After the curtain closed, and Ru'yah was positive Aamir had moved a good distance from her, she reached an attentive hand to her head and lightly touched the bandages. She quickly pulled her hand away, for her head began to pound with a fierce pain. At the pain, Ru'yah realized; she must have hit her head. But… how? She laid back thinking, despite her earlier struggles with sitting up. The last things she remembered was that Altair had come to get her because Aamir had need of her. She had been climbing to the highest keep of the Brotherhood… Altair must have climbed faster than she had, he had already been at the top and awaiting her. Or he could have already been there because... that was where she normally sat. He had caught her hood when she almost fell back in surprise. They had begun talking, more like arguing… when they both had said horrible things, and in his anger at her… he pushed her off the side… she fell, with nothing to save her…

'How could I possibly be so mean? Why did I say any of that?…' There was a pain in her heart at the realization at what she had said to Altair. When he jumped off to save her… She had landed on him, but the force of the fall pushed her back up and she slammed back to the Earth again… After that, it's all a blur. She remembered the pitch black, nothingness. Just floating, with nothing to do. Was… was that. Death? She had always imagined it to be peaceful, but was that it?

'Better yet,' she bolted up regardless of the pain, 'what had happened to Altair?'

Had that not even hit her?! Why didn't it cross her mind? She should have realized that Altair was missing!

She shifted on the bed as quietly as she could to dangle her legs off the side. She stood; on shaky legs, and once she was positive she had her balance, she moved off to the curtains. She moved slowly, in fear that a too fast motion would throw her off balance. Or any loud noises would alert Aamir or possibly Abu al Khayr, she couldn't tell which of the two men would cause her more trouble. Pulling the curtains back, very slightly, she peeked out. Her eyes swept the room like a hawks, searching solely for Aamir. She never spotted him.

She switched gears and swept the room for Abu al Khayr. If neither Aamir nor Abu al Khayr were in the room, it could be seriously dangerous for her to sneak out.

If they were in the room, she'd know their position and how to get by them. If they were outside of the current room, she'd have to find their position and_ then_ sneak past them.

Where had the two men gone? Did they just up and leave? But Aamir had told her to get him, well yell for him if she needed anything. And now, neither were there and worst of all; she needed something. But she couldn't just be sitting there, doing nothing. Therefore she was going to be doing something in the case of her needing something.

"I thought I had told you to yell for me?" She jumped, turning around to see Aamir sitting in a chair next to her bed. She stood there, still as a stone, staring at him. When had he gotten there? Better yet, how in the world had he moved there? There was no other entry points to her little space. He had made no noise what-so-ever and even worse; she had never even _thought_, for one moment, that he would be in there; watching her every move.

He smiled, "One good, yet bad, thing about you Ru'yah. Your inability to listen to others." He mumbled something at the end that sounded a lot like, "Just like Altair." He kept smiling as she shook her shock off and moved back to the bed. Her bare feet barely made a sound and she couldn't bring herself to even begin thinking of how he'd managed to sneak into the little enclosed space unnoticed. She sat down; Aamir beginning to speak as she pulled the sheets up to cover her legs, "What is it you wished to talk to me about that you had to get up to do?" A smile was present on his lips as he studied her.

She looked down at her hands as she fidgeted. "Well.. I'm a little concerned about Altair, is all."

As she spoke Altair's name; Aamir's smile faltered, but Ru'yah did not notice so he continued to smile when she looked up to him. "And why is that?" The way Aamir phrased the question, Ru'yah could tell she was treading rough grounds by asking it. But she just had to know! As she contemplated how she wanted to respond to him, Ru'yah remembered clearly the very first question she was asked by Al Mualim after she had been initiated into the Brotherhood. So sighing lightly she told him the truth.

"It's just, I said some horrible things that I should not have said and he saved me in the end. I am not sure how that worked, but it happened." She paused when she heard Aamir muttering something about a miracle, but shook her head and continued. "So I've got a nagging in my head that says he isn't alive. Because a fall like that… That would kill anyone, no matter who you are."

It hit her then, that Altair's name translated beautifully into 'the flying eagle'. His name was such an irony in the fact that he'd leapt off that roof and saved her... Almost flying like an eagle.

Aamir sighed. He sat up straight and looked Ru'yah in the eye. "I will be honest with you since you seem to be beating yourself senseless about this ordeal. He's not in the best condition. And they're doing everything they can, but he's got sever injuries. Internal bleeding, head trauma… Worse than yours. We're doing our best but-" Ru'yah cut him off.

"I don't care. I wanna see him. I'm the whole reason that he's in that condition!" She saw the protest come to his lips but again cut him off. "No. I wanna see him. And you said yourself, I'm beating myself senseless with guilt because he's hurt." Aamir sighed and stood. Ru'yah watched his slow movements, he obviously had strong feelings against letting her see him.

"Follow me."

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><p>AOS118: I'mma cut it off there Review, fav and chiz along those lines! Sorry for the cliff hanger, but I feel the next part needs to come in a different chapter<p>

**Edited 11/29/14**


	5. 4 Their Normal Selves

AOS118: Ok my lovlies! I'm bringing this one because I've gotten some reviews saying they really love it! So I thought I'd update pretty fast this time

Altair: You guys shouldn't like this so much! I mean come on-

AOS118: -smacks my hand over his mouth- You shouldn't listen to him –grins- Just read and review

Altiar: -is struggling-

DISCLAIMER: Sadly I STILL don't own any of the characters or the plot or the time. Just my OC: Ru'yah and any others who come into play. I loves them so much! I like to make them interact with each other too!

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 4

Aamir moved over towards Ru'yah, and helped her stand from her bed. She had little difficulty considering she'd gotten up not so long ago. The pair set off to see Altair.

Thoughts were literally throwing themselves off the sides of her head. Just bouncing back and forth, making her worry, then see reason, but bring the worry right back to the front.

'What if the fall had killed him? We had been at the very top, and it's a long way down.' From what she heard as they passed nurses, she was very lucky to have lived. Considering she fell to, but that didn't explain how or why. But, Altair, was also very lucky. 'Lucky? For what? Having me go and piss him off? So that he'd push me in his anger and then jump off the side of a building, thousands of feet off the ground, to fall to his death practically?!' Ru'yah bit her bottom lip, she moved her hand up to her mouth and left it there in thought. 'What if he doesn't make it? What if he dies…' The thought died as fast it formed and Ru'yah bit down so hard that she tasted the blood begin to swell around the newly formed cut. She cursed lightly and began to lick the wound to stanch the flow of blood. The whole time, Aamir didn't seem to notice the turmoil the younger girl was in. Or he was choosing to ignore it. She couldn't tell.

She unconsciously sped up and so did Aamir as he led her. Aamir could tell that something was troubling her, but he was sure that she did not wish for him to intrude on her thoughts. And he didn't know what and how much was troubling her, he figured it related back to Altair. No matter how much she hated someone, if she put their life in danger, she always felt guilty. So he let her be, even when he heard the light curses. He did not turn, but instead continued leading them to where Altair was.

As they approached, Aamir held a hand up for Ru'yah to stop, and as she did he moved off to the curtain. Ru'yah watched the curtain ruffle as he disappeared for a minute. She listened to the hushed voices and not a minuet later Aamir peeked outside the curtain, found Ru'yah, and ushered her to come inside. She moved off towards the curtain, and moved in as Aamir closed the curtain behind them. The sight in front of her, to say the least, frightened her.

Altair, lay on the bed, chest rising and falling quite fast. There were discarded bloodied clothes and towels lying at his feet, the nurses were rushing to get rid of them. The sheets were still under him, and she could see the drying blood on the sheets around his arms and abdomen areas. His chest was bare; you could see the few scars he had gained through his earlier years. His head had a bandage wrapped similarly like hers. From the front, he looked fine, but judging by the amount of blood from under him. He was indeed not fine. She tried to hold in a gasp, but it slipped out between her lips.

"The doctors insist that he stays on his back. But, he will recover in time. There's nothing to be worried about." As he said that, Aamir moved off to find a doctor so questions from Ru'yah concerning Altair could be answered.

Ru'yah began to shuffle her bare feet slowly across the hard floor, trying not to make a sound. She did not want to be loud, in fear that she would wake him. So she continued her shuffling to his bed side and once she felt the front of her thighs brush the bed she stopped. Without jostling Altair, she reached a hand to his head, and gently stroked the top of his head, feeling his hair move through her fingers with ease. He grunted, and she quickly pulled her hand back. But, much to her liking, he did not stir; he stayed right where he was. But then, he began to cough, the coughs were horrible. They were wheezy and wet sounding. She could easily tell there was liquid in his lungs, more than likely blood, but it was preventing his lungs from regulating his breathing right.

She stepped back slightly in fear. Tears were beginning to brim at the corners of her eyes. Was he going to be alright? He sure did not sound like it. She glanced around, there were no nurses, and there was so much noise in other places, that his coughs could go unnoticed.

His eyes snapped open and he looked like he was trying to breath, but couldn't. He was sputtering; and there were little drops of blood that were finding their ways to the sheets and his lap. He glanced at her and then looked back around the room, was he trying to figure out where he was? Ru'yah moved back another pace, but stopped. He was choking. He was choking on his own blood! The realization that his life was in danger at that moment, snapped her out of her fear. She had to help him; then she noticed he was also trying to sit up, she moved to his side, and awkwardly knelt on his bed. "Altair… Calm down-" Ru'yah was trying to calm him down so she could help him sit up, but he would not. He was beginning to panic. "Calm down so I can help you sit up." She said sternly to him, and he tried, one could tell he tried desperately to calm down. But he had panic written all over his usually calm features. It was expected though, who would not panic if they were chocking on their own blood and slowly dying? It scared Ru'yah, of course the two seemed to hate each other, but she felt that Altair was going to be someone she would have to inevitably be with most of her life. So some inner force, made her act.

She began pulling him to a sitting position while she began to look for a bucket or a bowl. There were none, so when he was sitting and supported by two pillows, she grabbed some clean towels and rushed back (as rushed as one who is injured can manage). She handed him a towel and he held it to his mouth as he violently coughed up the sticky, warm, red liquid. Ru'yah held another towel up for him and as he took it, he let the used towel drop to his lap and they left it there.

She pushed herself up onto the dirty sheets and sat next to him on her knees. She began to gently rub his back and could feel the rough, torn skin, through the bandages. So she began to be much gentler with his back, as the horrible coughing continued. And eventually she began to mumble comforting words to him. Because when she thought the coughing would stop it only got worse. She changed her rhythmic rubbing to patting to try to help force the liquid clear of his lungs.

Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes and she tried to blink them away, but that only made them fall down her cheeks and drip down to her chin. They dripped off her chin and landed on the sheets. Many people, patients and nurses alike, were beginning to crowd around Altair and Ru'yah. There were others that were running to grab Abu. Ru'yah either did not notice or care because she continued rubbing/patting Altair's back and speaking soothing words to him. By now his head was slightly resting against her shoulder, and she made no move to push him away. His coughs had stopped and now the only sound he made was a wheezing sort of hiss sound.

"Alright, everyone can disperse, there is nothing to see here!"

Aamir's voice broke through Ru'yah's hazy mind and she look up without halting her actions and notice the crowd. Slowly, they all began to trickle away from the scene. A few nurses stayed to check Altair's pulse since his coughing had finally stopped. And Aamir stepped up to the two. "Ru'yah?" Ru'yah shook her head as she realized that tears were falling freely down her face, she brought a hand up to wipe them away but noticed Altair's blood had splattered onto her hand. So she raised the other and wiped the tears away.

"I am fine. What do you need, Aamir?" Aamir put a comforting hand upon her back and smiled.

"How many towels did you use and how bad are they?" Ru'yah looked back to the bed, towels were all across the bed with a few that had fallen to the floor, and they were all white. Well, red, now that Altair had coughed blood all over them. She looked back up to Aamir, "I do not know, I did not keep count, I kind of dazed off after his coughs regressed. But they are all pretty bloodied, not sure if they are going to be able to be washed clean or stained forever."

Aamir shrugged, "It is of no consequence, I was just curious. Altair." Aamir looked over to Altair who had been staring blankly at the bloodied towels. His eyes looked… dead… "How are you feeling?" Ru'yah looked to Altair, having completely forgotten him. How do you forget someone when you're holding them? Boy did she need a nap. He simply looked up to Aamir. Instead of his facing showing nothing, anger broke out across his features like a flame. His head snapped in Ru'yah's direction.

"What the hell are you crying for? It's not like you cared for me in the first place!" His words came out strong, as raspy and wheeze filled as they were, and they hit home with Ru'yah like they were intended to. This was a bit new. He didn't normally get mad enough to yell. There was a light, quiet chuckle from Aamir, 'At least he's back to his normal self. Now what about young Ru'yah?' As his thoughts stopped Ru'yah looked at Altair. Seeing the anger on his face, she huffed.

"I care because you just saved my life! At the risk of your own, no less! Did you honestly expect me to be so cold hearted and _not_ care that you just saved my life, regardless of what could have happened to you?!" Ru'yah stared defiantly back at Altair, and Altair held her gaze. Aamir chuckled lightly again and smiled.

"It's good to see you two acting normal once again. Now, Ru'yah, I believe you should return to your respective bed and allow Altair to rest. You have done more than enough for today." Ru'yah moved away from Altair as if he had a disease, quick and unhesitating. Albeit stumbling from forgetting that she had been kneeling upon his bed.

Aamir turned to Ru'yah to address her personally. "The doctor wants you here another night. But after a week from getting out of here, you will be free to remove the bandage. He also said to replace it a day after you are back with us." Aamir smiled at Ru'yah and ushered her from the closed off space. She huffed at him and left without another word.

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><p>After Ru'yah was on her way back to her own bed, Aamir looked to Altair, without smiling. "You know I hate being the leader, right? As temporary as everyone makes it out to be." Aamir paused as Altair nodded his head, he chuckled. "Well, I am glad someone does. But, the doctor wants you here another two weeks. I did not want to tell Ru'yah because she would probably get all guilty and stuff and probably act worse than she already is." Aamir saw the protest rise on Altair's lips, but he cut him off, wanting to speak before Altair began his rant. "He wants to make sure your injuries heal properly. If not, you could be an invalid with Ru'yah looking after you for the rest of your life, or worse." Aamir did not finish what the "or worse" was, he left that to Altair. He figured there wasn't much worse than Ru'yah looking after him for the rest of his life, but you never know. "I know you hate being out of the battle, I remember you when you were younger. But you have to sit out for now." Aamir gave him a smile, even though he was looking down at the sheets. "I will get a nurse to discard the towels and to change your sheets." Aamir did not wait for an answer; he just turned and moved out of the room to find the nurse.<p>

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><p>Aamir ushered Ru'yah out of the closed off space and she huffed. 'Better not argue.' Ru'yah moved off to find her bed again; she had forgotten just how far she and Aamir had traveled. As a nurse passed her, she stopped. "Can I help you miss?" Ru'yah turned to her, "Ummm, yeah, actually. I'm a patient here. Ru'yah Nejem. I am trying to find my bed."<p>

The nurse gave her a confused look and spoke, "We do not have a Ru'yah Nejem under our care that I have been informed of." Ru'yah mentally kicked herself; she had forgotten that her birth father put her under Umar, so she'd be under Umar's last name if she was in the hospital. "I am so sorry, I meant, Ru'yah La'Ahad?"

The nurse smiled, "No, I am sorry, I should have known the name Ru'yah. Kaliq's daughter." A small blush spread across Ru'yah's cheeks at the mention of his name from someone she didn't even know. The nurse gestured for Ru'yah to follow her and she did. "Your father was a kind, and amazing man. He did most of his work for Al' Mualim, but he also helped us here in the Hospital Wing. When he had the time of course. He really cared for all of the Brotherhood." The nurse smiled at the memory. "Oh, I am sorry, I am more than likely just repeating stories."

It was Ru'yah's turn to smile at the nurse. "No, I have never actually heard that one. I've never heard any, really."

"Never heard any, huh?"

Ru'yah nodded. "I guess people just do not like to talk about him."

The nurse turned to Ru'yah. "I guess it was too sad. But this is it. I hope you feel better Miss Ru'yah."

Ru'yah smiled her thanks and moved off to the curtain and pulled it back as she stepped into the enclosed space. She moved to her bed, completely silent. The only sounds came from her bare feet padding across the space to her bed. She did not want to think, she did not want to breathe. She only longed for sleep to come and take her. It was a nice thing to hear someone speak so lovingly about her father. But… it bothered her. Why did she never hear anything about her father? Why, when she asked; did everyone get mad and blow her off, telling her they did not wish to speak of him? It was not fair to her, how was she supposed to know what topic would be bad and what would be good? She never knew her father after all! She slammed her fist into her pillow as a lone tear found its way out of her eye and down her face, finally to hit the pillow next to her fist.

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><p>AOS118: I feel I did this a good justice of FOUR PAGES! OH YEA!<p>

Altair: Shut up, that's horrible, you can do better.

AOS118: Well, smartass, I'm trying to only make it get longer by a page each chapter, so

SHUT UP! Anyway, ya'll know what to do, fave, follow, and review!

**Edited 11/29/14**


	6. 5 The Thief and the Novice

AOS118: So I'm back AGAIN. Just because I love you guys so much! This might be a little shorter, cause I'm not to positive where to go with it right this instance. But you'll see that I figure that out because it'll get longer and better as I go. It should be slightly longer this time, adding and changing things, ya know?

Ezio: Why am I not in this?! I mean, come on! I'm Ezio Aud-

AOS118: Auditore da Firenze. I know. BUT you're in 2 and on. NOT 1. –smirks-

Ezio: -sulks off mumbling-

AOS118: That's what I thought. Sadly I don't own anything but the OCs. Everything else goes to Ubisoft.

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 5

Ru'yah awoke to a squishy type of sound. She opened her eyes, and wiped the crusty sleep away, and looked at… Malik. Malik who happened to be, cutting apples? Ru'yah giggled at him, "Are you aware that you're cutting apples Malik?" Malik looked up at her, and just stared at her.

"Yes?" He gave her a funny look as if to ask 'Are you aware that you're still in the hospital? She just smiled at him as he began to chuckle, "Just checking." Malik smiled looking back down at what he was doing. She laughed again because he didn't understand why she asked, him and his one arm.

Some time passed before there was shuffling feet at the curtain, and Aamir pushed through it with Altair following. "Ah, Ru'yah, you're awake." Aamir smiled striding over to Ru'yah's bedside and he looked over to Malik, who smiled waving the knife. Ru'yah was tempted to complain about Altair being more injured than she and Aamir should have come to get her instead of them come to her together. Aamir looked back to Ru'yah pointing to Malik with questioning eyes. "He was nice enough to come in and cut up an apple for me to eat. Though I'm trying to figure out how he hasn't chopped his other arm off." Ru'yah explained shrugging as Malik handed her the plate of apple slices, as he did he gave her a playful glare.

"Maybe I'll tell you later as one of my _many_ secrets." He paused placing a still wet finger upon his chin in thought. "Probably not though." She nodded her thanks and began to eat the apple slices.

Aamir sat down at the edge of the bed and Altair remained standing, Malik stood up and took his leave to go wash off the knife and find something useful to do.

Eventually in the silence Altair made his way over to the chair that had been occupied by Malik, not to long ago, and sat down. Aamir began to talk to Altair as Ru'yah finished up the freshly cut apples. Smacking her lips, she saw a cup of water sitting on her nightstand, and dipped her fingers, smoothing off the stickiness and wiping her hands on her blanket.

"So… What is it you need Aamir?" Ru'yah decided she'd interrupt whatever Altair had been saying, and she received a glare, which she promptly ignored.

"Well. Right now, I need you and Altair to recover. But, when you have fully recovered, I wish for you to visit me in my office. More than likely, I will not be around for a few days, so give your wounds time to still heal before you come. Four at the most, but keep on your toes. You never know who your enemies are." Aamir seemed serious, so neither bothered to argue anything, or question Aamir's judgment. Standing up, Aamir clapped his hands together, "Well, I shall see you two in two weeks!" He briskly left the enclosed space, and then the building all together.

Altair and Ru'yah sat in a comfortable silence, as they listened to the noises outside of the curtains. Something Aamir had said bothered Ru'yah. What did he mean by 'two weeks'? At first he'd been talking about how he would only be a couple of days and all of a sudden he was going to take two weeks? Just a little strange…

She chanced looking at Altair; he was staring at something on the floor that seemed to have his full attention. "Do you know what Aamir meant by two weeks?" She asked quietly, bracing herself for him to yell at her like he had when she'd held him as he almost coughed up both his lunges.

Instead, Altair calmly looked up at Ru'yah and began to explain. "Unlike you, I'll be released from the hospital in two weeks. So, he wants us both at the same time, in the same room, so he doesn't have to worry about talking to us at separate times. Resulting in him having to explain the same thing twice, which would be a total waste of time." Altair looked off at something else, leaving Ru'yah to think about what had been said.

'Two weeks. He really did get injured. Because of me…' She frowned.

A few minutes might have passed, it might have been an hour, but soon enough a nurse came to discharge Ru'yah from the Hospital wing. Ru'yah smiled as the nurse came in, and a second followed. The second looked to Altair with a smile and spoke quietly to him, a moment later and he nodded his head and the nurse began to help him stand. And, Ru'yah guessed, take him back to his bed. The first nurse smiled at Ru'yah, "All your vitals should be fine enough for you to be discharged." She looked over the clip board. "As you should know, you have a week before you can fully take off your bandages. You should change them the day after tomorrow. Then every other day, until you take them off officially, just to make sure they stay remotely clean." She smiled down at her, and Ru'yah smiled back up at her in gratitude.

"Thank you very much, for all the help you girls have provided for us Assassins. We are forever in your debt." Ru'yah smiled at the nurse, as she stood up, shakily, to be lead out of the Hospital Wing. "Can I have a change of clothes?"

The nurse escorting her looked back at her and frowned, "I'm afraid not, we don't have clean clothes for you that will fit you."

"Oh..." Was all Ru'yah managed as she continued to the exit.

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><p>As Ru'yah walked out into the sun, she shielded her eyes, and tried to see where exactly she was. It wasn't in the Brotherhood's stronghold, where, for injuries, she was usually taken. Then again, this was the first injury since she became a full-fledged Assassin. And it obviously caused quiet the panic within the streets. She frowned, looking around, and examining her surroundings. She saw the tower, and relief flooded through her to know they were still within Masyaf. She began to make her way toward the stronghold, when someone bumped her. She automatically turned around, and in time, caught sight of the thief pushing her money purse into a pocket. She immediately went off after him.<p>

She had to climb up to the roofs to follow the thief and this exercise was beginning to trouble her lungs and muscles. 'Damn, I'm out of shape cause of the hospitalization. And I'm in a hospital gown! I should not be climbing!' She laughed a second as she realized that Altair was going to be worse off than she. She decided she'd just have to risk someone seeing her if it meant getting her money back.

Pushing herself a little bit more, she easily caught up to the thief, jumping, she took the thief down to the ground and spun him to face her. She quickly unsheathed his knife, pressing it to his throat; she began to speak, "Why'd you take my money?" He did not answer, so she pressed the knife harder, "I'm not asking more than once." Swallowing, which caused the blade to break his skin, he answered her shakily. "Because, I need to show my parents that I have what it takes to live!" She faltered slightly, 'He lives on the streets more than likely.' Her features hardening again, she snatched her purse from him, and stuffed it in her pocket. Standing up she berated him, "Stealing isn't the way to prove your self. Get an honest job, be it horrible or not, it's better than sinking to being a thief." Her words were true, but deep down inside she realized, she was insulting the occasional helping hands. They'd be fine, that was their living and they enjoyed it.

She moved off, to climb back down, and continue her journey, when the thief stopped her. "Where do you work?" She looked back at him. Whether he was asking her out of curiosity or he was trying to question her own words of wisdom, which weren't very wisdomy half the time. "Well you have some skills with the knife, at least for a girl, that is." He had grabbed her sleeve, and now she could see he wasn't much younger than her.

This was the perfect time to study him. His eyes were green, and sparkled with a glow, that she hadn't seen in someone so young, not even the occasional novice she passed. His nose was crooked, you could tell he had gotten into a fight with someone and had his nose broken. His bottom lip was slightly bloodied. And the blood trickling lightly down his throat did not seem to bother him. His cheek bones, were not very pronounced, but his face gave off a strong sort of nature from him. And his hair was shaggy, falling just above his eyes, it appeared that he had also cut it himself, 'Not a bad job at least.'

Answering his question, Ru'yah looked to the Brotherhood stronghold, and she heard the boy gasp as his eyes widened. "Your, you're an assassin? That explains the knife skills!" She smiled a fake smile for his sake, "Yeah, that's where I learned all of my skills." She looked at the stronghold, frowning now. She was thinking of what she'd have done different, if she'd had the choice. And something was bothering her in the back of her head. "It's not a life I would suggest for anyone that does not absolutely need it. And you, my friend, fall into the 'does not absolutely need it' category." He let go of her arm, and she climbed down, leaving the boy to his thoughts.

As she moved through the streets of Masyaf, there was no sign of the boy, 'Should I have shown him where I would be?' She shook her head; there was no point in dwelling on what could have been. Instead she focused on not bumping into people in the throng of people on Masyaf's streets. The people of Masyaf dressed mostly in browns and grays; never would you see someone, except for the Assassins who dressed in white, in any types of colors. Colorful thread just was not available to the citizens of Masyaf at the moment. So the people made do with what they could.

It was about midday, so it was expected to hear shop owners yelling about sales, or what they had to offer to the people. And to see people trying to haggle the owners of the shops to give them really good deals. She passed people who were selling and buying, and the different stands really interested Ru'yah. She even stopped at a few to look, she did not buy, but she enjoyed seeing the different things that were there. She was too selfless to buy a lot of unnecessary things. She passed food stalls, jewelry, clothing, armor, weapons, art, and much more. The art especially intrigued her, she was always entertained to see the different styles of art.

Soon enough she arrived at the mountainous climb, which, she did NOT look forward to. Being out of shape was going to hinder her heavily here. Stopping for a short break, to catch her breath, and make sure nothing had been stolen some how. She soon continued on her way, walking close to the edge and looking into the water, she smiled then. What she wanted to do right then, would probably be very stupid, but fun. She wanted, desperately, to jump into the water. But instead she stopped to watch the peaceful water, lapping over itself, and becoming one with itself once again.

Eventually she noticed the sun being dangerously close to dropping off the horizon, and decided that right then; it would be a good idea to move off to her bedroom. Besides they would close the gate into the Brotherhood soon to keep unwanted people out. She moved higher up the mountain, and the more she moved, the faster she got. She had to reach the gates before they closed for the night. So, picking up her pace, she got to the gates and smiled as a fellow Assassin stopped closing the gates to allow her to pass through.

Moving into the courtyard, she smiled at the familiar sounds and what her eyes swept over. She moved off towards the steps at a slower pace and once she arrived at the stairs, she took the ones on the right. She moved up them, hoping to tell Aamir, she was back. As she moved up, she began to crane her neck to see if he was there, but much to her dismay, he was not, so she moved back down the stairs and through the door next to them. She wanted to reach her room as soon as she could, once there, she grabbed a simple tank top and some white baggy jammie pants and moved off to the bath house within the Brotherhood. That's what she needed, a simple bath in the relaxing hot waters.

Walking the corridors she remembered being a novice and getting easily lost. While walking the halls, she got lost in her thoughts, and when she turned a corner, she walked right smack into a novice, knocking them to the ground, and her self too. She grunted when her butt impacted with the hard ground, and began to stand up, rubbing her soar rear. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" A young novice, at least 13, gushed out. Ru'yah looked down to her, she was at least five inches shorter than her. She was a little glad to see a girl novice, looks like she had in fact changed the Brotherhoods' ways by being the first.

The novice was very pretty for her age and Ru'yah could not help but feel a pang of jealously in her heart. The girl had bright blue eyes that sparkled lightly in the dim light, with a scar running from the bottom of her jaw, across her cheek and nose, to the top of her left eye. Her nose was small, and she had full lips. She appeared to be quiet big in her breasts and Ru'yah could tell she was very tough for her height. Plus, the height would give her an advantage of speed against taller opponents.

"I'm so sorry! I just, wasn't looking where I was going!" Ru'yah chuckled; the girl was obviously very respectful. But Ru'yah was very laid back and hated being looked up to. "It's alright; I know I knocked you down. Are you okay….?" Ru'yah trailed off, for she did not know the girls name.

"Oh, Karima. And my parents are dead, so I don't really…" Karima trailed off.

"It's alright young one, I understand. Mine are dead too." And it was true. Ru'yah did feel the same sometimes, she understood the girls pain.

"Where is it you're headed too?"

"The bath house. But I got lost."

"Well. Follow me." Ru'yah smiled at Karima, and she returned the smile. So the two took off in the direction of the bath houses and once they reached it, Ru'yah slowed; Ru'yah also heard a smack on flesh as they entered it. "I must have passed it at least twice!" Ru'yah laughed, "It's ok, I remember being a novice and getting used to the lay out of this place. It's big, and easy to get lost in. But once you roam the halls once or twice in your free time, you memorized how to get to the important places." The duo smiled as they both undressed and stepped into the hot, steamy water, and got comfortable. Ru'yah let out a huge sigh as the water encased her body.

The silence that ensued was comfortable. And neither had a problem with it as they relaxed, but once they began to wash, the two began to talk.

"So, what's it like to be an assassin?"

Ru'yah laughed gently, "You'll learn soon enough. But remember, you only get here if you believe in yourself and work hard! You can't take one second for granted. And no matter what anyone else says. Do not listen to them! They are all wrong!"

Karima smiled fondly at her, "Alright! I will do it for you! And one day, I will be the head of the Brotherhood, just you wait!" The excitement in the young girl made Ru'yah smile, "Of course you will! That is an amazing goal to have, I will help you along the way so you are not alone. And when you get the chance, find Malik Al'Sayf, he will definitely be up to helping you out on your journey." Karima smiled gratefully at Ru'yah.

They talked about much more, and eventually they decided it was time to get moving. They knew they couldn't afford to stay in there the whole night, they both needed some type of sleep or they wouldn't be functioning very well the next day.

And eventually the two found themselves having fun while they washed up. They splashed at each other, and poked fun at each other. At one point they got too loud, and a man cracked the door and told them to shut up. They got quiet and sat down for the rest of the time they were in there. Even with the pressure of staying quiet, they continued to talk, enjoying the others company. Ru'yah was especially thankful for the younger girl. It was nice to talk to someone of her own gender instead of always being around the guys. She loved them like brothers, but it got a little lonely cause there wasn't a girly thing you could talk about around them. They'd get bored and stop listening or they just wouldn't even attempt the conversation. But sometimes they did, and it didn't always end in the best possible way. After they were done washing, they got dressed and ready for a good night's rest. Despite the tiring atmosphere, Ru'yah found herself to be wide awake.

The two exited the baths, and Ru'yah looked to Karima, "Can you find your way back to your room?" Karima nodded. "I got it! Thank you so much for tonight, it was fun. I would love to do it again!" Ru'yah smiled, "Of course, lets just hope we do not knock each other over again when we do meet again!"

Exchanging friendly smiles, the two girls went their separate ways.

Despite what Karima thought, Ru'yah quietly followed behind her to make sure she found her way back to her room. Once she was securely in her room, and Ru'yah was positive that she'd swept the halls for any stragglers that weren't in bed, she casually returned to her own room.

And as Ru'yah returned to her room, she felt a comforting feeling settle over her mind, but her last thought worried her. 'I never got that thief's name, I wonder what he did after I left…'

But little did Ru'yah know, that same thief was currently sneaking over the gate to hide out in the Brotherhood for the night.

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><p>AOS118: Well, I hope ya'll liked it! I know I do! And I hope you like the new characters! They will be seen again! And Altair ran off to do God knows what. So review, fav and all that stuff. And I'll see you lovely people when I make another chapter! Also I will be uploading a Kingdom Hearts story if you'd like to check it out, not sure what it's gonna be about because I'm revising something old…<p>

I love the new stuff I'm adding, it gives the story more to it ya know? And I'm making grammatical corrections too. Along with SPELLING. It's going to be my death! X.X


	7. 6 Khalif Ahad

AOS118: HELLO! OMG… Don't kill me, I forgot to update-

Altair: That roughly translates into "I had not a fucking clue what to say"

AOS118: -smacks him- Shut up! Even though he is right…

Altair: Ha! I win!

AOS118: Yes, you do. See, I had serious writers block for this stupid fic. I couldn't think of ANYTHING. So now I'm getting something done. Starting at least.

Ezio: Cause I have to be here some how. She doesn't own ANYTHING except the characters she makes up and the plot!

Extra disclaimer: I do not own a certain quote in here, I give those rights to Rooster Teeth (Red vs Blue Season 10 (c)) because that was where I'd seen and heard it first! :)

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 6

_Out before Ru'yah was a vast field, with flowers and grass as tall as her waist. There were all sorts of flowers. Reds and blues, yellows and oranges, indigos and purples. There were even whites and blacks. Some reached the tops of the grass, others barely reached her shins. But it was all very beautiful, and very calming to ones mind. She smiled as the breeze blew her hair around her, twirling it and making it dance in twisting intricate ways that were confusing to the mind. She reached out an open palmed hand, just reaching and stretching. She closed her eyes in bliss as she stretched her other hand out, and pushed both of them skyward. She sighed as she pushed her stomach out, arching her back a bit, and her smile reached her eyes as she heard her back pop. _

'_Ahhh. It's nice to be here, not killing or training or anything extreme.'_

"_Like recovering from falling off a building?"_

_She stopped, her hands falling from their previous positions, and her head snapped in all directions. "Who said that?!" She called out to the emptiness. She heard an echoing laugh in response._

"_Let's just say, I'm someone who will-"_

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><p>The crushing black seemed to suffocate Ru'yah and she struggled with her assailant. Her dream forgotten, or was it a nightmare? One hand was holding, what she hoped, was their neck. While the other was trying desperately to find her hidden knife, but she was met with nothing. "Shhhhh. It's me. The boy from before. I had to follow you, please do not be mad…" She stopped struggling once she heard his voice. Slowly he lifted his hand from her mouth and nose, and he shrugged. Ru'yah's eyes narrowed at the young boy.<p>

"What the hell was going through your head?!" She whispered fiercely. He shrank back slightly, and cringed at the tone of her voice. "I just want-"

"What?! To live this life? In case you forgot, you don't fall into the categories for me to accept you, or even THINK of accepting you as an apprentice. Besides, I don't accept apprentices period." He got fierce like her, and stepped up a step.

"I don't want to feel so helpless….. like I can't do anything! You obviously don't remember any of the shit that I said to you!" He whispered back to her. He cringed back slightly from what he said, but Ru'yah didn't notice it, or take note of it. '_His thoughts are the right track to be apprenticed, but…'_ she stopped slightly. "That's not going to change my mind." She told him stubbornly. She crossed her arms over her chest staring intently at the young boy.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Ru'yah found herself in Aamirs office, the boy in front of her with her hands on his shoulders. "Soo…. Why exactly is this boy in our stronghold?" Ru'yah stood there, shuffling her feet lightly, she was worried to death to tell him of her "treachery" (as most would see it).<p>

"You see, I kinda told him today of what I do… Not in detail." She quickly added the last part as Aamir began to speak.

"That doesn't exactly explain why he is here."

"I'm actually-"

Ru'yah smacked his head. "I told you _not_ to speak. I showed him the stronghold, and I guess he just kinda…. Snuck in?" Aamir sighed, it was obvious she was in some type of trouble. "Do you realize how bad this could turn out? Ru'yah…"

"I know, sir, and I'm very sorry, I didn't mean for anything like this to happen."

Aamir nodded, showing some sort of understanding, "I'm sure you didn't, so I'll let you off with a warning. But you have a choice now, you can kill the boy, or he's going to become your apprentice. And I'm sure you understand why." Aamir added the last part when Ru'yah began to speak. Instead she nodded. "Yes sir."

"Report back here in two hours."

Aamir turned his head back down to his paper work, and Ru'yah exited, pushing the young boy out in front of her. "Stay close, _don't_, and I mean, _don't_, wander off." She looked at him, and he nodded. "Ok."

Ru'yah walked down the left side, and turned down both sets of stair cases, and could hear the boy hurrying to catch up. She could tell he was scared, who wouldn't be? Their life being held in a strangers hands? Anyone would be. She walked along, exiting the stronghold, and making her way to the training grounds. Walking down the short stairs, she passed the training grounds, and exited the strongholds outer most wall. She moved to the side and stopped, causing the boy to almost run into her.

She turned to him. "Okay, how did you get in?"

He stared at her, momentarily caught off guard. Wasn't she supposed to kill him or train him? "How did you get in, boy?" She was losing patience. He must have sat there staring at her longer than he thought he had, "Uhhh, I climbed the gate?" She nodded, "Okay, come along now."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later found the couple in the streets. Ru'yah was weaving through the crowd as if they weren't even there, and the boy was working to keep up. Coming to an alley, Ru'yah climbed the ladder and smiled looking at the view. The boy was up next, and he was very winded, she laughed lightly to her self. 'He could pass out, right here, right now.'<p>

And as if on cue, "I could… pass out, right… here, right… now."

Ru'yah laughed, "You'll get used to it. Especially if you want to be an Assassin."

He smiled, but the smile faltered when Ru'yah caught what she'd said.

"_If_ I chose to apprentice you too me, that is."

His hopes rose a bit though, knowing there was a possibility.

Ru'yah sat, with her legs crossed and admired the view before gesturing to the empty air in front of her. "Join me." He too sat, but with the soles of his feet touching, instead of crossing his legs. "Now. How did you climb the gate?"

"Ummm.. I've had some climbing skills, with the practice of scaling the walls. I just kinda… I don't really know how to explain it." He smiled sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmmm. That's interesting." Before she could continue, he intervened.

"What is?" He caught her look and smiled lightly again, "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, don't do it. It's interesting because most men with many years on you, in the Brotherhood too, can not seem to scale the gate. But…." The two talked for hours, question after question, and he answered each one without thinking too long. He knew what he wanted, he knew he wanted to live. So he gave smart answers and nothing to funny or silly. Ru'yah liked the boy, she found him to be someone the Brotherhood would benefit from having. She could only imagine Altair's thoughts when he gets out…

The boy found it strange how she hadn't asked of his name yet, but he did not question it, just kept answering her questions.

She was running out of questions, and so far she had liked all of his answers. Some worried her, but most were good. He fit the description of assassin. Of course he could have lived a different, much safer life, but. He was here now, no point in killing him, he was young, he deserved a chance. Umar did not think to kill her off simply because she was a girl. She prepared herself for the last questions, this is where she heard, most younger novices failed.

"Ok, this is one of the last questions. Also one of the most important."

She looked at him, he was still straight faced, and he looked ready to take on the world. Or the Brotherhoods trials at the least.

"Can you leave behind your family?"

She saw the look on his face change, she knew it. He couldn't. None of them could, and they did in the end no matter what they chose.

"Yes."

His tone shocked her, and her head snapped up. He had 'that's-easy' sound to his voice, as if leaving his family was the least of his worries. He was looking at his toes, which were wiggling as he played with them. She smiled softly.

"Do you wish to see them one last time?"

She decided he needed some suspense in going with her, or dying. This last answer would decide his fate...

"No. They wouldn't miss me anyway."

She frowned. "Do you not have any siblings to say goodbye to?" He shook his head. "You do realize, you can _never_ see any of them again. _Ever_."

He nodded, "I don't want to. Goodbyes are too hard. And if I do not say goodbye then technicality I am just not there currently, right?" Ru'yah smiled to herself at the saying, she felt she'd heard it some where before... "Besides, what would I do? Walk in and say 'Hey guys! I hate you all and wish for you to burn in the deepest part of an abyss! Which, speaking of, I'll never see you again! Gonna go live my life as an assassin, or be killed by one!' And walk out? I don't think that would go over too well with any parent."

Ru'yah tried to keep a straight face, she understood his situation, but not on a personal level. She had seen families that have no communication skills what so ever, she had seen it tear families apart to the point where a parent accidentally killed a child. Or more than one. But on a personal level? Not really, she did not understand how it felt to have the parents not even care that the child actually does exist.

Standing up, she breathed in some air, and then let it out in one big gust. She looked down at him, he was staring at her. She could see all the emotions as they flew through, anger, despair, hope, fear, joy. He was considering both consequences. He was prepared to be killed, or apprenticed.

Most possible apprentices don't make it, also, because they can't keep straight faces, or they anticipate everything. That was never good as an assassin. You should be prepared, not anticipate that this was going to happen, or this was gonna fail. You needed to assume that it _could_. Not that it would.

"What's your name?"

"Omar. I'm not too sure of my last name…" He stood too, staring out at the scene before them.

"Well, we will have to change that. Hmmmm, Khalif 'Ahad." She smiled. "Well, Khalif. Let's go."

He stopped, jaw dropped. "Where? Go where?"

She laughed whole heartedly. "Back to the Brotherhood, of course! Where else would we go? To your "grave"?! Yeah, right!" He smiled, didn't laugh. Just smiled. "Ok, your leading. So show me the way!" He looked at her, "What?"

She frowned. Then smiled again. "You leading me back to the Brotherhood. Consider it your first test." He nodded, "Alright. I can totally do this." He looked out at the vast expanse of Masyaf only to see that the Brotherhood was all the way across the way and that that had been the reason they'd jumped across the roofs. So that way they would have time to talk and no worry about being rushed. "By the way; you have to show me the way, through the crowd, no jumping the roof tops this time!"

As they moved off, Ru'yah decided to further his test. "How old are you?"

"I just turned 13." She could tell he was trying to move how she did. 'At least he picks up quickly.'

The whole, time, she rambled. Everything and anything she could think of to distract him. But it did not work, he kept on track, he hardly glanced up at her. If not at all, he had memorized what turns they'd taken on the roofs and was using that knowledge in the streets. He obviously hadn't anticipated her saying yes, because there were occasions that he glanced to see if he was on track. But sure enough, within the two hour mark, they were back in front of Aamir's desk.

Khalif was standing, nervous, he was fidgeting. And Ru'yah stood calm and collected.

"Khalif, as I can see, Ru'yah has chosen to save you." Ru'yah thought she saw a tremor roll through Khalif at Aamir's use of his new name.

"Yes sir." His answer was not _that_ hesitant. And his shaking did not show in his voice, that was very good on his part.

"A good choice, I assure you. There is no need to be so nervous." Aamir threw Khalif his normal easy going smile that he threw her most of the time.

Ru'yah decided to pipe up, she already knew Aamir had no issues with her taking him under her wing. "Sir, if I may?"

"Of course, Ru'yah. Go ahead." He gave her a knowing smile.

Ru'yah turned to Khalif. "It gives me great pride, to give you these robes."

Ru'yah revealed gray, novice robes from behind her back. And Khalif's heart began to pound in his chest. But, before he could grab them, Aamir spoke. "You realize, once you touch those, you are forever under us. And you will answer first to Ru'yah and second to me while she trains you." Khalif nodded, and placed a gentle hand on top of the robes. He placed his other hand under them and took them, Ru'yah letting go of them knowing he had them. He held them to his chest and looked up at Ru'yah who smiled.

"Welcome to being a novice under none other than myself."

* * *

><p>AOS118: What'd ya'll think? Through it together in three times opening the document! XD WHOO! No one her to be annoying, just review, and fave :) love you all!<p> 


	8. 7 A Change For the Better

AOS118: I'm finally working on this one. Been a while I know. But I can't resist trying to get somewhere with it. I also can't think of anything to freaking PUT FOR THIS ONE! AAAARRRGH! –throws my imagination at Altair- WHY WONT YOU WORK!? I'm getting back to it finally. I have finally gotten to this one! YAY! I think this is the first legitly long one I wrote :) -throws a chair at Altair- AND! For the sake of the story: Malik is in the wrong place! It was easier to write it like this because I feel like he would have been moved when Aamir took over as the Mentor!

Altair: -ducks- She's throwing things and throwing a hissy fit, so I'd suggest you start reading~! –ducks again-

AOS118: Shuddup. Anyway, enjoy -goes back to throwing things at Altair :)-

Disclaimer: Don't own Assassins Creed and chiz like that! Cept the OCS : P

* * *

><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 7

It had been about a week or two since Ru'yah had been released, and now she was sleeping peacefully after a long night of Khalif's obnoxious inability to shut up. She had deduced his problem to either stupidity or... something. She had yet to deduce the 'something' part of his problem.

There was a knock at the door and Ru'yah groaned once as she rolled onto her side to see some light streaming into her room. The light revealed it to be morning! 'Yay! It's only morning and someones bothering me!' Sitting up Ru'yah groaned again while rolling her eyes at the second set of knocks, "What in the hell do you want? I was sleeping, Jesus." Ru'yah swung her legs over the side of her bed and stalked over to her door as the third set of knocks sounded, already plotting Khalif's demise. She swore that if this was that little runt, he'd get his only chance at a family; torn off. And that wasn't a threat, it was a certified promise that Ru'yah would gladly carry out. She pulled the door open to see… Aamir. 'Whoops. I'm gonna get hell in a second.' Ru'yah gave an awkward smile at Aamir and a half wave as she began to try to explain. "I'm really sorry, I thought you were Khalif. He's been anxious to continue training, but I want to see how long he can go without me training him, in the hopes that he will start to just go train himself and make friends with the other novices... His age or not. ORRRRR… He'll finally leave me alone! Although, I really don't think that he's going to just leave me alone and start training himself. But I have to get some brownie points for trying right?" Aamir's lips curled down in a frown and Ru'yah took that as a 'no'. SO trying not to piss him off even more she finished up her little explanation of what was going on in her mind though she was sure Aamir didn't want her too... "And no, I'm not too positive what the point of this is. But I'm sure there is... Maybe... Never mind, the only point besides me trying to regain some sleep I lost after I fell off of a building is that the poor boy is driving me up the wall. I love him and all. But... Yea." Ru'yah laughed awkwardly and stopped completely with her story when Aamir gave her the _look. _

"Sorry, sir. I've been a bit… out of it. What with falling off of a building and all." And that was the truth. Everyone in the Brotherhood had noticed a difference in Ru'yah after her and Altair had fallen off of Masyaf's keep. Did anyone bother to ask? Of course not! As far as anyone was to be concerned: The two of them were fine despite Altair needing to stay in the hospital for two more weeks than Ru'yah. But Aamir trusted the others to put the pieces together in their head about Altair and their newest recruit: Khalif.

Aamir frowned even more at her. "I can see that." He gave a sigh at Ru'yah's expression. "Come to my office as soon as you can. And by 'as soon as you can'. That means now. So hustle, I have things to do and no time to do them. You of all people should know that Ru'yah." His message was crisp and clear leaving Ru'yah the only option but to nod, as she gently closed the door as Aamir turned away.

She sighed. 'He looked upset.' Another sigh, only mentally this time. 'And not himself.' And if she knew Aamir, then she knew that he was always happy and hardly anything ever made him upset enough to look like that. He literally looked like he had rolled out of bed that morning and just went with the flow of things. Something was very wrong within the Brotherhood, very wrong. Or something was very wrong _with_ the Brotherhood. She gulped as she turned back to look at her surroundings. They were familiar, and she was glad for that. But as she studied her room, she realized that she was wasting the time that she needed to get ready so she didn't get her head torn off when she went to Aamir in his little 'office space.'

She got dressed as fast as she possibly could and made her way to find Khalif to tell him to stay within the Brotherhood, no leaving that gate for him today! God only knew where that child went on a daily basis outside of the safety of the walls of Masyaf. Whatever was going on, she didn't want him running off to God knows where. The last thing she needed was to be running around frantically cause he disappeared. Hopefully he hadn't already. She searched around the Brotherhood till she got to the front, sighed because she was not excited having to find him by the Sparring Circle. Most of the elder novice's were always there causing trouble against each other. She did NOT need him getting into contact with all the worse Assassins. When she spotted his tuft black head of hair: "Khalif!"

He looked back at her and laughing began to jog over to her yelling something over his shoulder to the other kids... his age. Well he did something right it seemed. "What's up Maestro." He said it as a statement instead of a question. She sighed and almost smacked him upside his head, but she decided not to humiliate him in front of his friends.

"Don't call me that." After a beat and Khalif nodded, she continued. "Do, NOT, I repeat, DO NOT. Leave the Brotherhood's premises. If I find out that you do, you're going to wish you never met me. And that's a threat, not a promise. AND," She continued before he could walk away from her. "No one can do anything if I take your ass out. So watch out!" She smiled at him and without waiting for a response, she left him to his own devices to go to Aamir's 'office.'

_Step. Step. Step._

Ru'yah's steps against the cold hard stone worried her even more than her own thoughts.' What could he possibly want?' Her thoughts were going between many different possibilities of the subject of Aamir wanting her. And she had to work to push the thoughts away because her feet were carrying her around and she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going. Which wasn't to Aamir. 'Great. Stupid head. Stop thinking, your distracting me. But if somethings wrong with Aamir then...' The thought really killed her; she didn't want him to be mad at her or worse. She raised her hand to her mouth and started to bite her nails. When she caught herself she stopped before she bit her nail off. Ru'yah wasn't too sure what she could possibly be worried about, though. If he was in a bad mood, she'd put up with it, as she normally did, right? Right? She was starting to wonder if it really was as easy as that.

As she strode through the halls she realized that she wasn't really paying too much attention to where she was going once again. But she was consciously aware of her feet carrying her towards Aamir's office as she liked to call it. Thankfully, they were going in the RIGHT direction. She smiled to herself as she pushed her thoughts away so she could focus on what was to come from Aamir.

When she was finally climbing the stairs she tuned out her crappy thoughts finally and thought more about what would be said today. She took the left set of stairs like usual and made her way to the desk. She was surprised to see Altair there, until realization hit her; she was supposed to come see him in two weeks. Her eyes widened as she finally realized where she was supposed to be that morning... 'Whoops. I'm definitely getting hell now.' She should have been there about two hours ago. She stepped up next to Altair, and Aamir turned to them. His eyes were clouded over as he looked at the two of them before him. He addressed Altair and then her, more than likely for pointing out that she was in fact late. He was either being a bag of smashed assholes, or he was just simply teasing her out of good halfheartedness. But probably the first.

"Thank you, Altair, for being here on time. And Ru'yah, you should have remembered this more carefully." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, an unusual show of aggravation from him. "Next time, I expect you both here. And on time. And if I have to come and wake you up to get you here, you had better start kissing ass or your going to lose something very dear to you, and it just might be your life." Ru'yah nodded, not bothering with words. She could talk to him more personally later if he wished to speak with her.

Standing next to her, Altair was as calm as ever, awaiting Aamir's orders. "I need you both to go visit Malik, he has need of some assistance, and I am sending you both to go help him. Ru'yah you will leave Kalif here, and I shall attend to him. There will be no arguing this." When Ru'yah and Altair stood there, Aamir shooed them away, Ru'yah began to move away when Aamir added specifically to her, "When you are back, you will begin his training. I don't care if you get eaten." Ru'yah swallowed a lump in her throat and replied in kind.

"Of course." And with that, the pair left, going off to begin preparing for their trip.

As they exited out to the halls, neither said a word. They didn't look to each other, they looked forward and walked silently. Ru'yah began chewing on her fingernails, an unusual thing she did. Aamir was never that angry. He was always happy. And why would he be sending both of them away, but would keep Khalif there? She didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't deny it, she didn't want to leave him there. She didn't know what could happen to him, not that Aamir would ever harm him. Or would he? Aamir had been acting pretty strange around them all these past few days. She also couldn't help the thought that he'd turn out like Al Mualim and he'd end up turning HER apprentice against HER. Maybe it was stress… Right? It could be… just some bad stress. But from what? What could get _Aamir_ that stressed? Sure being the newest leader after a tragedy could put some serious stress on someone... But that much stress? Ru'yah found that hard to believe.

Ru'yah shook her head and stopped walking. She covered her face with her hands and sighed.

"Ru'yah?" She lowered her hands to her neck, "Yes, Altair?" She could hear the uncertainty in her voice. The trembling in it. So, surely, he could too.

"Are you okay? You're shaking like a leaf." Ru'yah lowered her arms to her sides and gave him a 250-kilo-watt smile.

"Yeah, I'm just contemplating what Malik could possibly need help with!" Altair nodded, "True. He's always so headstrong. Doesn't know when to quit. He's going to wear himself out one of these days."

Ru'yah's smile faltered. "Yeah.."

Altair continued on and Ru'yah followed shortly. She had to force her feet to move, refusing to look _too_ weak in front of Altair. Left, right. Left, right. She was so focused on walking correctly that she hadn't noticed where she'd followed Altair to. "The baths?" Altair hummed lightly in response as if to say, 'Shut up and stop asking questions.' Ru'yah rolled her eyes at him. "Why are we here? We need to get moving and get on our way to Acre we're not exactly neighbors with it here in Masyaf."

Altair sighed in frustration with how closely she was studying him, like she expected him to do something bad. "Just stand at the door and keep watch for any one. Do not let them in if anyone comes up." She rolled her eyes and moved to the door, propping it open with her foot.

"So… Why are we here?" Altair gave no response, but something fell from where he was and it crashed to the floor. There was a resounded curse that followed and Ru'yah chuckled.

"You dead yet?" She was peeking back in his general direction when she stepped out around the shelves of towels with nothing in his hands. "Nothing there? That's a shame." There was malice in her voice that the sarcasm just melted into to. But, he still chose not to answer her and continued to the entrance. She sighed as she followed behind him.

Like always, walking made her think, and this time she thought about why Malik needed any assistance. He was the most headstrong, besides Altair that is, he was especially headstrong when it came to that arm of his. Even help in battle wasn't asked for even though he received it irregardless.

And then, Khalif's face surfaced in her mind. Aamir _never_ trained anyone, Ru'yah discovered that very fast after a bored afternoon of her harassing him, so for him to offer to train Khalif until she and Altair returned… It was certainly strange. The little voice in the back of her head decided to intrude in her thought process, '_What if Aamir turns into an Al Mualim?'_ She shook her head roughly causing her hood to fall back, 'No, no, no! Aamir is fine. He probably misses being able to train. So he figured while we're away was a good time to reminiscence.' She frowned deeply not able to convince herself of it.

As her thoughts ran like a train that was running off it's tracks, she did not pay attention to Altair ahead of her. 'I have to tell Khalif. Butt…. OH MY GOD! He's going to want to go and I have no clue if I want to tell him straight or softly… Straight. Definitely straight. He's a big boy, he can handle it. Right? Yes. I can tell him to go to Aamir's office and to be good, listen to him and to not be a brat… But what it-' She was cut off as she slammed into Altair's back her palm, which was flat and facing away from her from the swinging motion of her arms, bumped into Altair's butt. Her fingers curled into his butt as the force pushed them inward. She jumped back with red spreading across her cheeks. He either didn't notice, didn't care or he wouldn't embarrass her until later. Probably the latter. Hopefully the latter.

That was when she looked in front of Altair. "Khalif! … What's wrong?" She moved next to Altair trying to forget her accidental grope. But Altair seemed to not notice it. She frowned at Khalif, her eyebrows crinkling together in concern.

"Nothing. Just want to know what's going on with you guys. It's not everyday you two walk out of a room together _without_ killing each other." He smiled his 'brat' smile.

"Altair and your Master are going on a mission. A dangerous one. You, Khalif, will be with me." Aamir stood behind Altair and Ru'yah. 'When had he gotten there?' "I shall continue your training until young Ru'yah returns." Ru'yah could feel Aamir's eyes upon her and knew that he was just trying to smite her after she had to be woken up and told to meet up with him and Altair.

Aamir stepped up right behind them and whispered next to Ru'yah and Altair's ear. "Consider it slight payment for making me wait this morning for you, young Ru'yah." A light blush seeped into her cheeks and there was a breathy laugh from Altair. Aamir stepped back without Khalif noticing in his fit of excitement.

Khalif's eyes lit up with the brewing excitement. "Really?" Ru'yah nodded plastering a fake smile on her lips. Altair smiled noticing how forced her smile seemed to be. "But…" Khalif's smile fell and Ru'yah's smiled became real at seeing her apprentice in a bit of a rift.

"Be good! You don't want to know what I'll do to you if your not!" Khalif smiled again and ran past her and Altair back towards Aamir. Ru'yah and Altair turned to watch as Aamir and Khalif turned back to leave. As they turned the corner, Ru'yah squeaked and jumped away from Altair. "Altair!" She backed away another step and watched the smile form on Altair's face. "What?" Her horrified expression said it all, but Altair played 'innocent.'

"What? You know _damn_ _well _'what'!" She started to stutter in anger, "Y-you … you smacked-ed m-m-my b-" She cut off. Realization was sinking in as she realized she'd been yelling and some other assassin's started to gather around them. They all were acting like old ladies with nothing better than to gossip! She huffed and stomped off toward the stables with a chuckling Altair following her.

* * *

><p>As Ru'yah saddled up her horse; Rose, she continued in her 'mood.' Altair approached her, already on his horse and looked out at the distance. "I hope you know that you are the <em>most<em> immature person _alive_." Ru'yah tightened the saddle lightly to make sure it sat right on the horse as she spat out the words. "Unless I'm wrong, my grope was _accidental_. And you-" She faltered as she thought about what Altair had done.

"And I what?" He smirked happy to see her so flustered.

"You groped _my_ ass on _purpose! _What was the point?!" He chuckled at her. "What?" She glared up at him completely serious and now in the mood to fight.. He looked down to her, meeting her fiery gaze.

"You're being immature." She rolled her eyes and mounted her horse patting her neck. "How?" She and Altair turned their horses and exited Masyaf.

"You are making a big deal out of it, whereas _I_ just let it go." A smile pulled at her lips as she saw the flaw in his logic.

"You are wrong! _You_ groped _me _back! When 'letting it go' would have meant _not_ groping me back!" She smiled in victory as Altair frowned. "I guess you win this time."

* * *

><p>Slowly but surely the duo were nearing Acre. With her her thoughts; Ru'yah realized another thing. The two of them were acting like best friends. Well… if best friends groped each others asses on purpose and accidentally then… They weren't. Maybe it was a phase? No way. Maybe… jus- No! We are just being friendly for the sake of being stuck together!<p>

The sun was beginning to set cascading pinks, yellows, oranges and blues across the twilight sky. That would mean camp. Which meant food and water. Which meant rest. She spoke up tentatively. "Altair. We need to make camp soon." He ignored her. She pressed her lips into a thin line in aggravation. He seemed to be ignoring her a lot lately. "Hey!"

"Shut up! And ride harder!" His response was crisp and snappy.

Ru'yah obeyed not sure what they were running from and snapped her horses reigns. Rose sped up pushing herself harder to run faster and save her rider from whatever was chasing them. 'We can't afford to exhaust the horses…' Ru'yha's eyes crinkled in worry. She pushed up next to Altair. "We can not afford to exhaust the horses…"

He sighed, "Look behind us."

Ru'yah glanced behind them. "Couldn't we just fight whatever-"

There were at least twenty Templars. Ru'yah's head whipped forward and her face blanched. She then noticed that she hadn't even been aware of her head turning forward. "Altair…!"

"I know. Hya!"

The two rode on, all through the night. They were desperate to escape, but the Templars were hot on their heels. And Acre was in deed getting closer.

"Altair!"

He looked back at Ru'yah, he could see the shadow's under eyes seeming to grow. "Keep going! Push through for Khalif! I am _not_ telling him his Mentor and parental figure and friend died!" Ru'yah grunted and forced herself to stay awake. Altair was right! She couldn't fail them now!

As they rode, Altair was concocting a plan to save them. It was a very bad plan, but a plan no less. He knew that Ru'yah would go with anything at this point. She was just as desperate as he to get to the safety of the bureau. "Ru'yah! Come up here for a moment!" She rushed up and he told her his plan. She nodded, "I really don't care! What ever gets us away from them!"

As they approached Acre's gate, the two readied their muscles. They had to be fast and they had to be prepared. If not, they might not make their up and coming jump. "Get ready, Rose. We have to leave you both. Just come to us at the bureau. Ok?" Rose neighed in response knowing that the two horses could soon rest.

Acre's gate was clear as the night sky and as the passed under the arched gate, they both jumped from the saddle. Altair hit the ground, rolled and dashed towards the roofs. Ru'yah on the other hand jumped awkwardly, hit the ground awkwardly and had to run from a Templar that had caught up to them.

She jumped onto a bench, and then jumped to a venders stand with a crowd of people around it, to a random and convenient pole. She then scrambled up the side of a building, she had to find her foot holds as she ran up to the building which was hard because the building appeared to be smooth. She looked out over the city and spotted Altair _waiting_ two building ahead. Without looking back at the guards and Templars. Ru'yah ran, jumped, rolled and repeated. As she neared Altair, he joined in with her effortlessly and together they raced across the city.

The ten city guards followed them by the rooftops and the twenty Templars followed them on the ground. As they ran, more and more of the guards and Templars fell behind. Soon enough only one of the Templars remained, and he was a marauder.

At some point during the chase, Ru'yah had gained the lead. She could see the open bureau that Malik needed to close, "Malik! Close the grate! NOW!"

Altair jumped up next to Ru'yah and the two could hear the _smack! _of the grate closing. "We have to make a stand, don't we?" Ru'yah jumped a big gap and grabbed the window of he other building. She climbed up as Altair jumped over and grabbed the edge of the building hauling himself up. "I'm making a stand. You're going to slip in the bureau."

They jumped again, in synchronization with each other, and Ru'yah's mood turned sour. "There is no way in _hell _I'm leaving you to fight it alone!" They both jumped to the ground. "Yes you are! Do _not_ make me pull rank on you!" He dodged a sword slash from the Templar and he struck back with his rapier. "I don't care! Your rank can kiss my ass!" Ru'yah rounded towards the Templar's back ready to strike when Altair's scream of alarm stopped her. He ducked quickly away from the Templar in front of him just in time too, to avoid losing his arm.

Time seemed to slow down for Ru'yah. In stead of whipping around like she told her body to. She turned slowly, but at least everything else was slow too. When she finally faced the opposite way, she saw him. A lone archer with his crossbow poised. Poised at her…

There was a thump: the arrow being fired, she moved to the left.

There was a hiss: that was the arrow through the air.

The next squishy thump was the arrow burrowing into Ru'yah's chest.

"Ru'yah! DAMMIT!"

Ru'yah could feel the air rush around her as she began to fall back. She crashed against the ground not even noticing the air leaving her lungs. She didn't notice Altair strike down the Templar that he was fighting or the one who shot her. She didn't see him crouch over her. She didn't hear him yell to Malik. She didn't feel Altair pick her up and move her into the bureau. She stared up and only once did she realize anything, and that was when she felt her heart stop beating the blood through her veins.

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><p>Ru'yah could have sworn she was floating again. The black abyss was endless and calming. And Ru'yah began to give up, she began to let the calm wash over her and caress her in an endless happiness. But then… There was a voice, masculine and strong, pushing through her revere. "Don't…. I swear…. Make her breath, DAMMIT!" Ru'yah thought she felt a pressure on her chest that disappeared as soon as it came. 'I wonder what all that yelling is about, and why did someone hit me?'<p>

That was when Ru'yah's eyes snapped open. She was 'dead'. In Limbo… Or wherever she was. She was dead…

How did she die? She really couldn't remember, but she had too. She couldn't stand not knowing how she died. The harder she thought, the faster the images started coming, they were sharp and crisp images.

A horde of people.

Acre's rooftops.

Altair.

A bowmen.

Then simply nothingness. Just that dark abyss that Ru'yah was becoming acquainted with.

It hurt her head, and she curled into a ball trying to will the pain away. She was holding her head as the pain increased, and spiked. She felt it begin to fade, but it spiked again and she groaned. She began to pray desperately for the pain and suffering to end. But alas, it stayed. She groaned in pain and that was when the voices broke through again. They weren't whispers, they were yells. Cries of pain and a voice of worry and concern. Following the voices, came the images. A woman giving… birth on a bed. A man rushing in and holding the woman's hand. Maybe they were married? Was it his child, or was this a random child that the woman was having and that was a family friend. Maybe a family member, father perhaps? No, he's not that old looking. Maybe an older brother. There was another woman helping the woman on the bed give birth. The images and sounds cut off leaving Ru'yah trying to figure out what those images could possibly mean.

"Get a towel!"

"Ru'yah! Dammit, don't you dare die on me! You hear me?!" A pounding sensation on her chest followed. Ru'yah was quite tempted to start ignoring the voice since it was only annoying her and she wished that whoever kept hitting her would just stop already! Jeesh!

"She's convulsing!" See why she wanted the voice to shut up? It was only confusing!

'Who? Me?' Ru'yah frowned and began to push for consciousness, she needed to wake up. Whoever was out there, was yelling for her. Consciousness was a long way away, and Ru'yah didn't know if there was much she could do within. Most of it seemed to be up to those outside desperately trying to keep her dead heart beating. "Ru'yah!" Again, that piercing voice that was so familiar yet so unfamiliar. Why was this voice calling out for her? Why did she matter to anyone else, she couldn't be saved so there would be no point in trying to awaken her.

So again she began to sink deeper into her happy little abyss. "Malik! Get back over here! We're going to lose her if you go any slower!" That annoying voice was quite desperately angry!

A face appeared, a young boy with black tasseled hair. His eyes were a green like no other, they sparkled and twinkled in a certain light. Then a name flashed in front of the boy's face; Khalif. 'Khalif…' Ru'yah knew she knew the name. But from where? Time seemed to drag on as she stared at the face and name of this new boy 'Khalif'. The pounding had stopped and so had that insistent voice.

Before she could figure out where she had seen him, the vision disappeared. She was no longer floating. Instead she could feel a soft bed beneath her. There was a bright light against her eyelids. She could smell… clean something. Maybe that was the scent in and out of itself, clean. There were voices, whispering. Were they talking about her? The voices seemed to be sad. 'Why were they sad?' She was alive, was she not?! This certainly wasn't her happy abyss!

Ru'yah forced her eyes open to a squint; the bright light above her head was really starting to piss her off. She brought a hand up to block out the light but found that she couldn't raise that arm. She tried the other, SUCCESS! She blocked the light and tried to peek around the room. She couldn't see anything or anyone. But she still heard the voices. She decided to try out her voice, 'Why not? It couldn't hurt, could it?'

"Hello?" Her voice came out as a croak. Small and unidentifiable even to her. There was silence, so she decided to try again, raising her voice. Maybe they hadn't heard her. "Is there anyone there? Please, I can't seem to move my left arm." There was a small sudden pain in her bladder. "And I need to pee really bad now." There were footsteps, running footsteps. A door somewhere to her left burst open, so she turned her head to the side trying to see who came in. She could make out a figure in the door, two figures. Where was she?!

"Ru'yah?" That voice… "Malik? Malik? Where am I?" Malik approached her slowly,

"You're in my bureau in Acre. Do you know who this is?" He gestured to who was behind him. She tried to see the face, squinting to allow her eyes to adjust. "I… I don't know." Malik's face frowned. "If you turn that obnoxious light out, maybe I can." Malik's face lifted in hope, "Of course!" He moved to the window, and drew the curtains across, allowing the room to dim. Ru'yah found that she could open her eyes fully now.

"Altair…" He moved forward, "How are you?" He was being so… gentle towards her…

"I'm ok. I cannot move my left arm, I have to pee and I'm a little hungry. But other than that. I'm chugging along here." She gave him a weak smile trying to show that she was truly alright. He nodded giving her a smile in turn. Malik spoke up across the room, "Do you know how you got here?" Ru'yah had to give that some long and hard thinking. How had she gotten there? Then it hit her, the images flashed through her mind. The Templars. The lone archer. The arrow piercing her heart…

"I got shot…" Ru'yah whispered it. Malik looked down, "Yes." He looked back up with guilt written right across his face, "I-" Ru'yah shook her head. "Malik, it is alright, you were in the bureau, you could not have known." She looked to Altair who was looking away from her. "And I should have listened to you when you told me to go in the bureau." He nodded, acknowledging that he knew she was talking to him. She looked to her chest and then to Malik. "Am I going to be able to move my arm again?" He nodded,

"Sorry, in order to remove the arrow, I had to numb your arm with something you would probably rather not know about. That way it'd stanch the blood flow a bit. It should wear off soon." She nodded and a comfortable silence followed them.

Another question hit her. "Did it... the arrow, I mean... did it pierce my heart?" She was looking at Altair, wanting to know from him since it was his voice that was so desperate during her little 'episode'.

He looked away from her to Malik, so she too turned to him. He sighed, seemed like they were hoping she would not ask. Welp, too bad! "Malik... please. For me?"

He sighed again scratching his head. "Yes.. It did."

There was an odd silence that followed his words. It was as if the two older assassin's were awaiting a reaction from her. "Oh..."

Altair stood quickly, knocking his chair back in the process. "Oh? Oh is all you have to say about getting shot in the _heart_?"

Ru'yah flinched but steadily stood her ground. "Yes! As a matter of fact! I..." Her voice audibly softened. "I kind of guessed that fact."

Surprisingly, instead of Altair fighting back, he simply picked up his chair and sat back down as the trio sank back into a comfortable silence. No one seemingly wanting to say anything or simply having nothing to be said. Ru'yah broke that silence once her bladder mentally punched her again reminding her of her human needs. She spoke up, her voice tentatively soft and squeaky.

"Can I go pee now?" Her stomach growled at her. "And maybe get some food?"

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><p>AOS118: YAY! I got it done! 12 pages now that I've revised! Can you believe it? I'm so proud of myself! I'll see y'all later. I'll also probably have another chapter up for this and Monkey See, Monkey Do.<p> 


	9. 8 Lies and Deceit

AOS118: YO YO YO YO! Wassup sexuals?! Anyway, aside from the weird opening, here the next update of what you're reading ;) I'm trying to update all my stories if y'all are interested in em

WARNING: This chapter gets kinda…. EH.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.

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><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 8

After Ru'yah had taken care of her business and gotten food, the three began to talk about why they were there. Malik told them he hadn't sent for anything or anyone at all. Not for two months since he'd been transferred to Acre by Aamir.

"So… why would Aamir send us here if we are not needed?" Altair twiddled his thumbs waiting as Malik thought and processed his question thoroughly.

Malik suddenly frowned and addressed Altair's question grimly. "I am wondering the same, it is not everyday that Aamir seems to act as you have described Altair. But at the same time, we cannot just assume something is wrong only from his behavior. There could be a rather large amount of problems causing his behavior." Malik looked at Ru'yah, her sullen features suggested that something may be bothering her. But Malik did not ask, he knew she'd speak up if it was bothering her enough that she would require someone's opinion to quite her thoughts. She had stayed quite throughout the conversation trying, in her head, to figure out why Aamir _would_ send them away. But she was continuing to come up empty handed in the matter.

In her position on the bed, she was lying on her back. She was propped up slightly by two pillows so she would not have to strain her wound in order to see the other two occupants of the room. Malik was sitting Indian style on the floor, bracing his right hand on his right knee. And Altair was sitting at the end of the bed with Ru'yah's feet propped up on his lap; they were covered by a light blanket up to her waist to keep her warm. The temperatures had been dropping since the moon had started to crest the sky. She hadn't yet complained, so they assumed she was doing okay. Ru'yah laid the back of her arm across her forehead and sensitive eyes. Altair noticed her arm motion and reached a tentative hand up to her cheek. He rested the back of his hand, where less heat would be, on her cheek. It was flushed warm with blood, but was her forehead? If her forehead was then they'd need to give her more medicine. He pushed her arm gently away from her face and felt her head, "Malik… Her fever's coming back."

Her fever had been on and off since she had laid back down after walking around. That must have been the cause. At least, that was what she kept telling herself. She needed to be better because Altair and she needed desperately to return to Masyaf as soon as possible to check on Khalif. Altair knew that if anything worried her; it was Khalif. And he knew if for some reason she suspected something was wrong with him... She'd fight him to go back, feeling well or not. He rubbed the top of her head and looked at Malik. "I'm going to leave her here w-"

Ru'yah sat up faster than lightning, making her head inevitably spin, "No! You are not going to just leave me while you-"

"Shhh!" Altair pressed his index finger to her lips, silencing her even though she still begged him with her eyes, willing him to understand how important it was to her that she go back with him. Malik watched with watchful eyes, wondering when they stopped fighting with each other and started caring for each other. He was trying to understand why they were acting so… nice to each other. Was Ru'yah's constant temperature change messing with her mental capabilities? And did Altair simply feel bad for her getting injured under his watch?

"Altair. Can I speak to you?" Altair nodded and stood as Ru'yah laid back onto her pillows at Malik's brotherly glare. She looked back to Altair and continued to silently beg him, even when he turned from her to exit the room. The two exited into the hall, and Malik gently shut the door behind him blocking her sight and hearing of their conversation.

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><p>She watched the two exit, and when the door shut she gently touched her lips where Altair's finger had been. <em>It<em> was happening. _They._ Were happening. She shook her head. 'No!' If he really cared he wouldn't have tried to leave, and that was the only reality that Ru'yah's mind could see possible.

'He wanted to go… He wanted to leave me. But why? Khalif is _my_ apprentice! Not _his_.' Her eye brows knitted together in anger and she clenched a fist full of blankets in her hands. Ru'yah felt her cheeks, they were flushed in anger. She felt her forehead with the back of her hand; it was warm enough that she probably had a fever. She pulled her hands back to the sheet trying to fight the tears that started to brim in her eyes. It's not that she did not appreciate his concern with _her_ concern for Khalif, she did! She just... The tears sprang to her eyes and she shook them away. But she couldn't fight them, so instead, she bowed her head as the door opened and she began to silently sob.

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><p>Malik closed the door gently as Altair leaned back against the opposite wall. "What is it Malik?" He sighed. It was obvious that Malik didn't want to be too harsh, but he couldn't seem to find better words to phrase it with.<p>

"You do realize that the only reason she is so buddy buddy with you is because-" Altair held up his hand and Malik raised an eyebrow.

"She's unstable. I know. But if it helps her through whatever it is she's going through…" Altair trailed off. Malik sighed.

"Let's just… get back to her before she panics or worse." Altair simply nodded and pushed off the wall as Malik opened the door.

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><p>Ru'yah's head was still bowed as the tears continued to trickle down her cheeks. The door's silent <em>click<em> didn't faze her in the slightest. She sniffed, wiped her cheeks and under her eye lashes where the tears were gathering and spilling over. She tossed over onto her right arm, the good arm as she fought the tears that were threatening to overspill. There was no way in hell that she'd cry in front of Malik and Altair. She would find a way to hide it, no matter the costs.

Malik walked slowly over to Ru'yah's bedside and she turned away from him, wincing when she landed on her left shoulder awkwardly. She did not even want to talk to Malik, he probably plotted against her with Altair. Only to come face to face with Altair, she huffed and flopped onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow, stiffing her groan of pain. Malik placed his hand on her shoulder, "Why are you crying?" She made a sound into her pillow that sounded like "I am not!" and she continued to lay there. But as more tears spilled over she gave in and reluctantly pulled her face from her pillow to look at him.

"I am just so confused," She sniffed trying not to cry anymore. Altair stood suddenly and left the room. He gave no warning as to why he left, but that didn't stop Ru'yah. As he left Ru'yah raised her hand, "Wait…" But he didn't hear her. With more tears threatening, she looked to Malik with pleading eyes and he only shrugged at her.

"I'm sure he won't leave you. Now. Why are you so confused?" She frowned, it was clear that she didn't want to answer his question. But she knew, he'd get the answer out of her anyway.

"Because." That was all she offered after a long hesitant moment of thought.

Malik sighed. "You know you can tell me. If it's about Altair, I promise I won't tell him." He smiled at her. "You know you can trust your Big Bro right?" She smiled weakly taking a short moment to consider.

"Okay." She sighed heavily again and began to voice her concerns to him. "When Altair was going to leave, it _really_ made me panic. Too many thoughts are running through my head, and I feel as if my thoughts a train running of its tracks." She earned a puzzled look from Malik at the word 'train', but he shook it off. "And while you were talking to him, I got to thinking. This didn't help the derailing of the train-thoughts. Why is he… more… caring? The same with me? We used to just fight non-stop, but now... And why does he have to act like he really cares about getting back to Khalif? That is not his business to be worried about, it is mine. And I'd like it to stay that way. There is a reason that Aamir made me his mentor in the first place."

Malik smiled. "He is more caring because you are starting to become more unstable." He hesitated at 'unstable', not sure if he really wanted to voice it too Ru'yah that way. But she didn't stop him and make fuss, so he continued, "You need the emotional support, and he is there to give it. He said that if it helped you through whatever internal issues you may be going through, he would be there. Now why exactly he is, I am not the person to tell you or to ask of. He is. If he himself even knows. But he knows you are horribly worried about Khalif. So, he was thinking about trying to lessen your worry. And the only way he could of that, was to leave you here with me. Make the trip back to Masyaf, and check on him himself. And possibly, probably, try to smuggle Khalif out so that you really would not have to worry about anything that Aamir would try with him." Malik took her hand and gave her another encouraging smile. She didn't return, and that caused him to frown as she replied.

"I wish he knew." Malik gave her a questioning look. "Him leaving me to help me. It would hurt me more than him not leaving." Malik nodded in understanding.

"You need to tell him. That way, he doesn't make the same mistake again with you." Ru'yah tensed at his words and a small panic began to set in, in a small corner of her heart.

"No. No. Nonono. I cannot tell him that!" she sat up, "I do not want to have to rely on him for my whole life. If I have to rely on him, than it will carry into me training Khalif." There was a wild, feral look in her eyes.

She pulled her hand away from Malik. "I do not know, but, I want to get back to Khalif. I cannot stand not knowing what is happening to him." She looked down at her clasped hands in her lap. "Can you go get Altair?" Malik nodded and rose; he glanced at Ru'yah as she glared at her lap.

"Just get some rest." She nodded, but stayed sitting up. He huffed and left to go find Altair, leaving her to her thoughts.

A few seconds after the door clicked shut, she stood on shaky legs to get out of bed. She moved slowly to the door and opened it; letting in a cool breeze. 'Why'd they coup me up in a room with no circulation?!' She huffed moving back to the bed and for the first time she noticed what she was dressed in. Her "outfit", for lack of better words, was two white sheets cut to fit the size of her body. The two sheets were tied together down her sides and her shoulders. The front dipped lightly so it didn't choke her, and the back was almost as if she were in a normal shirt. The thought of who undressed her and redressed her was at the forefront of her mind and she tried not to dwell on it for too long. She was hoping it was Malik for he had already seen her naked, now where as Altair (she hoped) had not. But considering Malik's disability, it was probably Altair. She shimmied her chest lightly, there was nothing securing her boobies. 'Hee hee. Boobies…. FOCUS! Focus, Ru'yah! Right, I wanted to know who the _hell _changed my clothes.'

She looked around the room for her assassin clothes. They were sitting on the table on the far side of the room. She smiled striding over to them. She lifted the top garment; it was her tight fitting shirt! Clean, too! She untied, and ripped the sides of her "clothes" and let them fall into two heaps on the floor. She squeezed the shirt over her boobies (hee hee) and winced when it brushed and put pressure over her wound. She gritted her teeth, sucked up the fact that her body was really not wanting to work with her and moved on. The next item of clothing was pants; they were mostly tights, but pants no less. She pulled them up over her underwear, (at least they left those on!) and secured her belts around her waist. She pulled her boots up over her pants and strapped her knife in. Once she had her sword in her belt, she pulled on her assassin robe and hooked all the belts and stuff together. She then pulled on her blade and bracer, welcoming the familiar weight on her left arm. She winced each time she moved her injured shoulder. It'd be a while before it healed properly especially if she did everything she normally did. She sat back down on her bed and waited for Malik and Altair to return patiently.

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><p>"Sorry it took so long. Altair was out and about in the city." Malik walked in with a silent Altair following. She noticed that Malik shot him a glare that suggested they'd had a conversation about what she and Malik had talked about. Knowing Malik, he only gave Altair a vague over view of the conversation, not the pretty little details in the small print.<p>

Ru'yah stood from her bed and walked up to Altair. And as casually as breathing, she cocked her good arm back as far as it would go and smacked him as hard as she could. The left side of Altair's face was flushing with blood and his head had snapped to the left with the force of the blow. The palm of her hand and pads of her finger tips were beginning to throb lightly with pain. He didn't even raise his hands in an attempt to stop her, which she wasn't arguing with. She welcomed him not stopping her with open arms. "You bastard! How dare you even _think_ about leaving me!" Ru'yah's face was flushed in anger and without looking at either of the two men, or contemplating on where she would go, she stormed out of the room.

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><p>Ru'yah was currently pulling herself on top of the bureau's roof. And boy was that a task for her in and of itself. Once she was up, she sat down on the edge, landing on her left arm a little too roughly. She started to gently swing her feet back and forth, but got frustrated when the heels of her boots smacked into the stone of the bureau.<p>

She felt so much calmer after smacking Altair. She wasn't positive if it was because she released pent up anger in the form of abuse and violence. Or if she really and truly just needed to smack the ever living hell out of his face. Of course, one could argue that she 'smacked' him. She'd prefer to look at it as a high-five to the face. And as she settled into her feeling of calm, it started to lightly rain. She sighed as she pulled her hood up to cover her hair and prevent a few rain drops from pelting her face lightly. She took in a deep breath through her nose and let the smell of wet dirt waft into her nostrils. She sighed happily. That was a good smell that brought back memories.

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><p>"<em>Haha! I win again! I win again!"<em>

_Altair cheered and jumped up and down with a wooden sword in his hand. _

_Ru'yah sat on the ground holding her ribs, "That was not fair!" There were tears in her eyes as the pain began to slowly recede._

"_What was not fair, Ru'yah?" Umar strode out into the rain, trying to avoid muddy puddles, such as the one she was currently sitting in. He crouched next to her and helped her from the puddle, her clothes dripping wet. _

"_Altair cheated!" She sniffed and Umar felt her forehead, even though the two had been fighting quite fiercely it did not seem to help from her getting a cold. She sniffed again and wiped some snot from her nose._

"_How did he cheat?" Umar wrapped his cloak around her, trying to preserve her body heat._

"_He hit me in the ribs! I could not get my breath!" _

_Umar sighed as he pulled her into his arms and started back into the house. "Do not worry child, Altair has always been like this. He fights like that against everyone."_

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><p>The memory wasn't one of the happiest, but it was the start of her and Altair's horrible relationship.<p>

"Why'd you smack me? Besides what you deemed worthy enough to scream in my face."

If Altair had been expecting her to jump, she didn't. "I do not know what you are talking about. I gave you a high-five. But I guess you were not ready and I just happened to high-five your face." She smiled innocently, knowing that he could not see her face.

"You know that is not what I mean." She frowned, couldn't he accept a joke?

"You were going to _leave me_. Khalif," Ru'yah stood slowly as the rain began to seep into her hood and in the first layer of her robe. She spun to face him as she continued, "Is _my_ apprentice. Not _yours._" Altair just stared at her. When he didn't say anything, she turned back towards the ledge and jumped down (luckily she used her right arm to jump down), leaving Altair to his thoughts.

Ru'yah didn't plan out where she'd go, and it was beginning to rain much harder. She sighed as she shoved her hands into her pockets. She was moving from cover to cover when she was yanked into an alley as she passed it. She was roughly pulled against someone's front and a hand knocked her sword away from her and then the same hand covered her mouth whilst the other held her hands still. Her should blades began to burn lightly from the strain on her arms and pain seared into her chest. No matter how hard she struggled the hands never wavered. She was trapped. And there was no way for her to escape.

"I've got you now pretty little girl. I see my arrow didn't kill you. That's a shame; I guess I must need to enhance the poison. Again." The man holding her; uncovered her mouth and reached behind to hold up the tip of an arrow dipped in poison and wave it in front of her face. She struggled again and the man tsked. "Now, now, now. The harder you struggle," He grunted as he forced his knee between Ru'yah's clenched legs. He ground his knee against her crouch and Ru'yah went absolutely still. "The more fun we have." Ru'yah's eyes began to water and she blinked the tears back as much as she could.

"But… How are you alive?" He dropped the arrow head and grabbed _her_ knife. He gently ran it up down her arm, to her hip, then her thigh and eventually grazed her crotch. "Your little friend did not exactly kill me!" His voice took on a sing song quality. She couldn't contain her self, and whimpered.

"Please…" She whispered it, she knew better than to scream. No one would hear her anyway, so she didn't see a point in trying to get someone's attention. And she knew from what she'd heard that begging usually didn't help the victim. It usually encouraged the attacker to make the victim's pain and suffering worse.

"Please, what?" The man gave a dark laugh and Ru'yah realized the truth of her thoughts. "Maybe you should _beg_," He grunted again as he jerked his leg up again. She whimpered in pain.

'Altair! Help me! Please!' She prayed to anything that would listen, to spare her.

Her attacker dropped the knife and began to move his hands up her arms, down her thighs, and anywhere he could touch. But he avoided her crouch, breasts and where his arrow had pierced her skin. Otherwise, she was poked, prodded and groped everywhere else.

Soon Ru'yah gathered all of her strength and courage and brought her heel up as hard as she could into _his_ crouch. "Doesn't feel good, does it?" She whispered as he doubled over in pain, she sprinted out of the alley and into the abandoned street, the rain picked up even more. As she had ran into the street, her hood had fallen back and in stead of putting it back up, she simply looked back at him to see if he was getting up. He was still holding his crotch in pain. That was good. She knew that screaming was useless; the noise from the rain would cover it. But she had to try. She turned her head to the sky, ignoring any rain that splashed gently onto her face and screamed one word:

"Altair!"

As her scream ripped free of her throat, she slipped in the gathering mud and fell to the ground. Struggling she stood on shaky legs and checked back with the man, he was still doubled over. 'Good,' Ru'yah thought as she moved off to the left.

She ran as fast her legs could carry her when she heard the man grunting trying to get up. Her boots splashed through puddles, scattering mud everywhere. She stopped once she was positive he was gone. That she had lost him. She looked around. Where was Altair? He had to be around there somewhere. She frantically searched the area and soon got a ground perspective of the place.

The man was back, and he'd jumped on her. "Now, pretty little girly, it's _my_ turn to have fun." She shrieked as loud as she could. "No one's going to help you." She kicked and punched at him but he boar through it and ripped her top. He roughly groped her breast, not even trying to be gentle. After he left bruises, he moved lower ripping more as he went. Ru'yah closed her eyes and tried not to think about what was happening.

When all of a sudden, the man grunted, but nothing happened to her. That was when the blood started dripped onto her. Melding together with the mud in her clothes.

"Ru'yah!"

Someone moved behind her and helped her sit up, not even knowing who it was, she automatically turned to them and hooked her arms around their neck and hugged as hard as she could. Her savior slowly hugged her back. When she let go of them, tears stained her cheeks, and still new tears were dripping down her chin. Once she dried her eyes and could see clearly, she saw her savior to be… Altair. He was currently pulling off his assassin's robe as fast as he could. "Y-y-you… you came…" He pulled it off and held it out to her as he looked her straight in the eye.

"You called. I simply answered." She took the cloth and pulled the old one off, irregardless of prying eyes. She replaced her old with Altair's and stood. She had tried to hide the newly forming bruises but something told her Altair had seen them, irregardless.

As much as she tried to not too, Ru'yah trembled. Her hands shook. Tears still streaked down her cheeks. And luckily, Altair was off in his own world.

She grabbed the fabric closest to her hands and gripped it hard, trying to force her hands to stop shaking. They kept on, so instead, she wiped her eyes on the sleeves, and thankfully, got her crying under control. But still she trembled, and still her hands shook uncontrollably. She was beginning to pray that it was simply the cold that was making her shiver so badly.

Altair came back to her. "Let's go. We're leaving Acre and heading back to Masyaf." His curt words stung and Ru'yah's eyes drooped in sadness as he walked away. It would seem that he was done being Mr. Nice Guy. She knew it was her fault; she'd slapped him clear as daylight and as hard as she could, with no really good reason. Now she was crawling back to him practically and begging for him to help her. She didn't blame him one bit for his anger. She'd be angry at herself too. A tear slid down her cheek at the thought of how poorly she'd been treating him after he saved her life twice now. Ru'yah sighed and followed him; it would be a long night.

* * *

><p>They reached Masyaf by midday, and were unsurprised by what greeted them. Chaos. Utter, chaos. "What happened here?"<p>

As Ru'yah cautiously stepped in the bounds of Masyaf, she studied her surroundings. The dead littered the streets. There was still fighting. Templar's against Assassin's. Assassin's against Assassin's. Assassin's murdering innocents. Innocent's murdering innocents.

Chaos.

That was the simplest word that Ru'yah could muster into her mind, and she stuck with it. There was no denying that all hell had broken loose, and there was no denying that there was no stopping it. A shiver ran down her spine that shook her whole being, right to her core.

"Altair?" She looked around, he was already making his way across the battlefield, cutting down Templar's as he went. She started after him, doing the same. Any Templar that got in her way was cut down, mercilessly. She did not have time to have mercy. She realized. She needed to find Khalif before blood could soak his young hands.

As they reached the Brotherhood's stronghold, Ru'yah gasped. The dead, the fighting, was much larger in a much smaller and enclosed space. 'But, how can that be?' Altair surged forward like a small tornado, and Ru'yah was left in its wake to follow it.

They dodged, killed, and made their way to the front. Standing behind the railing was Aamir. And next to him, holding one of the Apples of Eden was Khalif. Blood covered him from head to toe; his eyes were full of bloodlust. And his smile was pure evil.

"No! Khalif! What have you done to him?!" Ru'yah had surged forward, much as Altair had, but Altair grabbed her arms dodging her sword when it swung down too low. She fought against his hold but he was stronger, he held her in place and eventually she gave up and slumped in his arms. She fell to the ground, and Altair went with her. She shook with tears. "You monster! He was just a kid!" Altair wrapped her in his arms trying to comfort her. She shook again with a sob, but now anger, to, joined her.

"I actually quite enjoy the killing. To watch friends turn to enemies. To watch families be torn apart by a single order, destroying their kin and any possibly future. You know, Ru'yah. You should try it, its fun. Maybe… Maybe, _you should experience it._"

As the words left his mouth, Ru'yah's eyes widened. He truly was gone. The young boy she knew and loved was gone. And he would never come back, there was nothing that could bring his conscious back to normal. He would forever be dead to her. As much as she really didn't want to admit it, he would.

Before she knew what was happening, Khalif was raising the Apple up and light shot out from within it. Ru'yah's eyes widened. He wasn't staring at her; he was making direct eye contact with who ever was behind her. Altair…

Ru'yah lurched up onto unsteady feet and threw herself away from Altair just in time. The knife sailed through the air and passed her harmlessly. "Altair! No, stop! It's me! It's Ru'yah! Your friend!" He didn't seem to hear her, he just kept advancing. "Please no." She dodged him again. This game of cat and mouse continued until the fatigue caught up to her. Her movements were becoming sluggish and her brain unresponsive.

Altair dove, and she tried to move, but she was too slow. The knife sailed in slow motion and embedded itself into her arm. She cried out in pain. Suddenly, Altair's aggressiveness stopped and he grabbed her roughly. "Altair!"

* * *

><p>Ru'yah woke with a start. It was dark, she didn't know where she was and there was a light fire in front of her. She slowly sat up to avoid making noise. She looked behind her, Altair. He was quite close to her makeshift bed. She threw sand onto the fire to put it out and was plunged into total and complete darkness. She shivered; it was colder too without the fire.<p>

"Why are you awake?"

Ru'yah jumped. "Uh... Bad dream."

"You put the fire out."

Ru'yah chuckled, thankful that he seemed to be mad at her again. This kept her from having to tell him her bad dream. "Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Altair didn't bother replying to her.

The day's past events came back to her and she sighed rubbing her face. She looked up to the sky and could see it starting to brighten at the horizon. She looked back at Altair who had lain back down and had begun to doze back off.

She stood, restless. There was no way she could fall back into sleep without having another dream. So she moved off to the horses to get them fed and watered. They might as well be prepared for the continued ride back to Masyaf. She sighed as she guided the horses to the nearby river that they'd camped by for this very reason.

As the horses drank their fill, she looked up at the sky. Her heart was heavy; she wanted to get back to Khalif, but… She couldn't ask Altair for anything now; he probably wouldn't listen to her. She sighed and guided the horses back once Rose was finished drinking.

She decided against rekindling the fire for breakfast, and settled on some bread. If Altair had an issue with that, he could get over it. After she ate she tended to the horse's stomachs and gave them some bread and two apples each.

The sun was beginning its official assent into the sky and Altair chose that time to awaken himself. He sat up and Ru'yah turned to watch him as he stretched his arms toward the sky and then stood from his 'bed'. He placed his blanket that served as his pillow and placed it on the back of his horse. He grabbed its reins and began to leave when Ru'yah's voice stopped him. "I already took them for water." He looked at her absently and then moved to the food for the two horses. "I also fed them." She pushed some sand around as she spoke to him, barely looking up at him to know what he would be doing.

She stood and quietly mounted her horse, Altair soon followed suit. The two rode off, with Ru'yah leading, and Altair following up.

* * *

><p>After many hours spent upon the horses, the two companions found themselves right outside of Masyaf. As they entered they dropped off the two horses back to their rightful owner. They then started off toward the Brotherhood.<p>

They passed the normal crowded streets with the venders screaming at anyone who would listen and go buy something from them. A few street orphans scampered away from a vender after stealing some bread. Which Ru'yah hurried after them and paid the man for the bread and two other slices for the children. Altair didn't stop her; he stayed quite and out of her way.

Under any other day, he would have reprimanded her and told her to not be paying for street orphans. And as usual she would retort back that she felt the need to because if it was not for Umar then she too would be a street orphan. Which when it came down to it, was the exact reason she'd taken Khalif under. Because she did want to give him a second chance at a better life. Even if that life happened to be a little bit more dangerous then what he could have had.

He was definitely mad at her.

She smiled to herself as she jogged the rest of the way to the gates. They were stopped by the assassin on duty, like usual. "Why are you guys back already? I thought Malik needed help with a bunch of errands?"

Ru'yah shook her head. "Aamir wanted us," She stopped momentarily as Altair brushed past her. She took off after him, much to the other assassin's protests. "Sorry!" She yelled half heartedly over her shoulder. She was actually quite glad that Altair had stalked off, she really did not know what she would have said to the other assassin.

The two weaved their way through the crowd. "Do you see Khalif?" Altair didn't answer. He simply led the way to where Aamir usually was. Only to be met by Abbas.

"Why are _you_ two here?" He sneered at them. Right behind Abbas sitting on Aamir's desk, were a couple papers and she could barely make out her name on one of them. Already Altair was in action going for them. "Because." Altair shoved Abbas out of his way and Ru'yah pinned him to the wall when he moved toward Altair.

"Back the fuck up." Altair glanced back at her, "Don't look at me like that! Get the damned papers!" He turned back and took the papers sitting on Aamir's desk, grabbing her arm as he left so she'd let Abbas go.

Altair let go of her arm as soon as they'd left the building, "Can we climb to the top to look at these without everyone breathing down our necks?" Ru'yah's eyes pleaded with Altair. She was about to argue that he'd seen her name on them too when he sighed and began to climb with Ru'yah following him.

She smiled lightly to herself as she felt her feet leave solid ground. She was climbing faster than Altair, and she didn't even notice it as she rose higher and higher than him.

For Altair who did not want to climb in the first place found it becoming harder and harder to keep up with Ru'yah. She was in her own world thinking about being able to fly, and what it'd be like if she'd never been born into the Brotherhood. Like normal. He knew how she thought, he could see it in the way she stared dreamily at the sky. Barely watching for hand and foot holds. She was probably think somewhere along these lines: What she'd be doing now if they'd turned her away. Would she be alive? Or would she be dead? The normal for her.

With the thought at the forefront of her mind, she climbed ever higher until she didn't even have room to climb anymore. She lifted herself up and began to wait for Altair.

* * *

><p>"For some reason, this view does not have the same effect it used to have on me." Ru'yah sighed as she watched the colors in the sky blend together as if an artist had just spilled water across his freshly painted canvas.<p>

Altair's head emerged from behind the rock wall. He'd taken way too long. What had he been doing? "What took you so long slow poke?"

Altair huffed, "Be glad I'm even up here. I could have just left for you would have known." He smirked lightly, and Ru'yah laughed. "Har har. Now can I please see those papers?" She reached a tentative hand toward the papers and Altair moved back.

A rock fell from the edge, "Let's not be too hasty. I'd hate to see history repeat itself." She huffed and sat down at the opposite end from him. "I sure would. I do not need to be anymore in debt to you with my life than I already am."

He sat down where he was and began to read the papers. She occasionally tried to read them, but he would conveniently move away from her at just the right times. There were lots of the papers and over time he moved around to keep his limbs from falling asleep. Eventually when he was facing away from her and sitting Indian style, Ru'yah decided to bother him more about the papers that he so desperately couldn't let her see yet. Like, jeesh, they had _her_ name on them, not his.

"SO…. What do those papers say?" She peeked over Altair's shoulder.

"Aamir and Khalif… Ru'yah. I am sorry." She knitted her eyebrows together and took the papers handed to her.

Her eyes glanced over the paper and her eyes widened at the words scrawled on the paper.

* * *

><p>AOS118: OHMYGOD! I wonder what happened to Aamir and Khalif?! And why is Altair acting like he's a teenage girl on her period?! Find out next in the next chapter when ever that gets uploaded!<p> 


	10. 9 Pain and Guilt

AOS118: Whaaaaaaaa! I'm getting there, I have it (MOSTLY) written up, but I got to finish it on the puter! I got it done, guys! I'm in school so I'll update it at the house :D

Disclaimer: I'm just makin sure that it's understood, I OWN NOTHING. Cept the OCs and such.

* * *

><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 9: Pain and Guilt

Ru'yah, for the thirteenth time, paced from her bed, to the door and back to her bed. Twice she passed Altair who was sitting Indian style on the floor rereading the letter to Ru'yah.

When she was about to pass him, he handed the letter over to her. She snatched it from his grasp and read it again, only out loud. "Dear Ru'yah. I am sorry to say, but Aamir left earlier today and took Khalif with him. He said something about he would be back before you; so there would be no reason to worry. But I though I would let you know since you and Altair returned so soon." There was no signature, but they both knew who wrote it. Ru'yah cried out in frustration and crumpled up the letter and flung it away from her. Altair neatly caught it in the air before it could hit him in the face. The rest of the letter was also strewn around the room in crumpled up balls.

"Flinging crumpled up balls of paper at people that have done nothing to you, will do you no good." Altair spoke coldly uncrumpling the paper.

"I don't care! I want my damned apprentice back!" Ru'yah punched the wall closest to her as hard as she could, when she pulled her hand back, blood welled up across her knuckles. She watched the little bubbles of blood pool up too much and spill over as Altair stood abruptly and grabbed a towel.

He grabbed her hand, fairly gently and placed the towel over her hand while applying pressure, he shook his head. "Punching walls and making your knuckles bleed isn't helping you at all either." He looked at her, her head was bowed and her shoulders were shaking. Her knees buckled and she collapsed; dragging Altair with her. Tears were spilling down her cheeks and she just stared at Altair's chest. Both their hoods had fallen and Altair studied her face. She looked up at him the tears glistening in her eyes. His golden eyes searched hers for a moment, trying to decide how she would react. She tentatively reached her hand up and ran her hand through his hair. He stiffened at her touch, but she did not stop. It was short, but soft like he had just washed it, though she knew he hadn't. Her hand trailed down the side of his head, over his ear and then she brushed his jaw line; feeling the stubble that was growing there. Her hand rested over his heart, her fingers brushing the crook of his throat.

A comfortable silence followed the two as Altair watched her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Her hand gripped a fist full of his shirt as she shuddered and more tears fell. She shook her head sadly, "Why?" Altair opened his mouth about to reply when she continued. "Why were we chosen to lead such a hard and complicated life?"

She looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to tell her something other than the truth. "I cannot tell you the answer to that." He looked her squarely in the eyes and said, "But, I am glad that you are here leading this life with me." He gave a small smile, rare for him.

Ru'yah's torso collapsed against Altair's shoulder. Her slim arms wrapped around him and clutched at the back of his robe. "Thank you." She whispered it, but Altair's keen ears caught every word.

"We need to clean and wrap your hand. Your shoulder too." Her eyes widened when Altair said 'we', 'Does… Does he actually care for my well being?'

She nodded and began to stand when Altair gently pushed her back down onto the ground. He picked up the small towel that had fallen and placed it against her knuckles again. He placed her free hand over the towel to stop the new flow of blood. "Stay." He stood up and moved out of the room to get medical supplies.

They would be stashed away in a basket somewhere; Ru'yah wasn't too positive where exactly that basket was. She stared at the door, now that she was alone; she gave into the tears and allowed the sobs to wrack her body. Now, was not a good time for her. She was alone. And that was when the pain flooded her mind. This was the time she couldn't block out the pain and sorrow encased in her heart. This was when that wall of stone built around her heart crumbled and fell, exposing her heart. Now, was when she reflected on everything in her life she hated. The pressure on her hand decreased on the towel that was still stanching the flow of blood from her knuckles. She clasped her hands against her mouth trying desperately to not cry out. Her bloodied hand closed over her clean hand and she watched the towel fall to the floor. She was trying to stop the sobs, she didn't need Altair to come back and find her like this.

_Why was she like this?_

* * *

><p>A few minutes later found the door opening with Altair sliding in, and Ru'yah still on the floor, but no longer crying. Her eyes were ringed with red and her cheeks were tear stained. It would be obvious to the even the stupidest of people, anyone could tell she had been crying. She was positive Altair knew she'd been crying, but he had the decency <em>not<em> to mention it.

He sat down next to her and dipped anew cloth into a bowl of water and began to gently clean her wound. It stung, but she didn't pay it any heed. Instead another thought squeezed into her mind. She looked down slowly at her hands.

"Does your back still bother you?"

Altair was silent for a moment, not sure how to reply. "No."

Ru'yah hummed, hearing the lie and she frowned. 'Could he be telling the truth, or just trying not to hurt my feelings?' Altair began to wrap her knuckles, to ensure they stayed clean. Or as clean as possible. "Now your shoulder." He turned back to the medical supplies and Ru'yah began to remove her weapons and robes. She pulled everything off besides her pants and shirt. Altair had the new bandages laid out across his lap with the bowl of water and a clean cloth next to him. He was staring at his clasped hands, his face blank. Ru'yah bit her lip and pulled her shirt over her head, careful not to disturb her wound. Altair held a towel up to block his view, his eyes closed too and she carefully removed the bandages. 'Why is he making an attempt to hide his face? Or is he blocking his view?..' She tossed the bandages to the side, hearing their soft impact with the ground.

"Turn around and I will start with where the arrow exited your shoulder." She turned around awkwardly and he gave her the towel, she covered her chest and silently waited while he cleaned her wound. He braced his free hand on her back so he could apply the right pressure to the wound. But for now, he was only circling where the real wound was, careful not to touch it just yet.

"You are taking this quite well." He spoke. Ru'yah winced as the damp cloth brushed over the still closing wound.

"What?" She managed to ask him as Altair finished and placed it to the side.

"Turn around." He didn't reply, only dipped the next clean cloth into the water as she faced him.

"You were saying?" He braced his free hand against her right shoulder as she sat up straighter. "_This._ Any other girl aware of the year would be against taking off their shirts off in the presence of a man. But you did, without argument." She smiled as a light red spread across her cheeks.

"What makes you think that I have no issues with the situation?" She laughed sheepishly as a thought struck her on how to get her own answer out of his question. "Who changed my clothing back in Acre? I some how doubt Malik would have, he has issues with his own clothing, and he was probably way too noble to even think about it." Altair remained silent so Ru'yah reenforced her point. "This left you! Hmmm?" Altair didn't respond, keeping a careful mask over his face as he kept cleaning and Ru'yah took his silence as a 'yes.'

"We have to re-bandage it now." He looked at her uncertainly, gesturing to her chest. She shook her head and lowered the towel, but kept her eyes on Altair.

"I thought we just discussed this!" Again, he didn't reply, instead he simply began to rewrap her wound. He wound it around her chest twice, and then wrapped it over her shoulder three times, covering the wound and securing it. "Besides. I'd rather be indecent and get proper bandages than be decent and get improper bandages. She smiled shyly at him; he was still looking at her shoulder trying not to glance down too much.

Altair nodded, but barely slowed his pace. Ru'yah sat diligently as he wrapped, trying not to think about how his hand would brush her skin, mainly her breasts. She sighed, her mind reeling. She could just picture his rough assassin's hands gently caressing h- 'No! Don't think those thoughts!' Why was she so different from the other women? They were always respectful to the men, but her? Nah. She was laughing and drinking right along with her and she _killed people_. She was as bad as Altair or Al Mualim. She could feel his breath gently caressing her neck. Her cheeks flushed. Her speech was even weirder than her actions; she talked like… like she wasn't truly from that time. Almost as if she was from a different time.

"Stop!" Altair stared at her as she huffed, "Unless you can man up, let me. The bandages need to be tight around my breasts! Let's face it; I'm going to be doing something despite my injuries. My breasts, even when I wrap them myself, will jiggle and bounce! These have to be tight so they don't fall! Cause then my breasts will bounce and jiggle even more!" She huffed, done, and embarrassed. Altair merely nodded in response, and undoing the bandages he'd done, re-wrapped them more tightly. Ru'yah sighed happily at the familiar pressure around her chest. Once Altair finished wrapping, he sat back down in front of her on his knees, as she stood and redressed herself.

"What do we do now?" Ru'yah hmmed at him as she slid her sword into its sheath at her hip. "We got a letter addressed to you, it turns out Aamir has kidnapped your apprentice, we re-bandaged your wound… Now what do we do?" Ru'yah smirked, an evil smirk that would put even Al Mualim to shame.

"We could-" Altair interrupted her. "We are _not_ going to ransack Aamir's things." Ru'yah huffed.

"Maybe ask around about when they left?" Ru'yah didn't have to admit it out loud, Altair _knew_ she was disappointed.

Altair stood and the two moved to the door. They exited Ru'yah's room with hope in her heart, but doubt clouding the hope. They moved to the fighting ring at the bottom of the hill up to the stronghold. They jumped the side of the fence, falling quietly to the ground below. It was a long way down, and with Ru'yah's injuries, she stumbled and Altair had to catch her elbow to steady her. Ru'yah was praying desperately that the Master assassin over looking the fighting ring would know just what had happened.

"Excuse me! Qa'im!" He turned to look at them; Ru'yah could see a smile on his face, "Young Ru'yah!" He stopped when he noticed Altair following behind her. "What can I do for you two?"

Ru'yah smiled kindly at him, "When did Aamir leave?" She was going to ask more but was distracted by Altair replacing her hood on her head. She looked back at him with a 'really?' expression and he looked away. She knew she needed it up, but it was really hot and sweat was dripping down the back of her neck. Of course she knew if they were wearing _black_ instead of _white_, she'd be even hotter. But her good looks were already increasing the heat so... (Teehee.)

"He left shortly after the two of you…" There was a pause as he thought, "Oh! And he took that Khalif boy that hangs around down here. His eyes..." There was a pause as he thought of how to phrase his sentence. "Did not look right, spaced out almost. They certainly were not right." He shrugged to indicate that was all he knew as far as Aamir and Khalif went.

"Thank you." Ru'yah smiled and gave him a slight bow to show her thanks. Ru'yah and Altair left, headed back to the steps ascending to the stronghold, as Qa'im turned back to the match at hand.

The pair stopped on the steps as Ru'yah collapsed awkwardly in defeat, one of her feet sliding out from under her and down two steps. "What do we do now!?" She cried out in frustration. 'Why is this happening to me?!' Altair didn't respond, in thought, but Ru'yah didn't register it as thinking. She huffed in anger, 'Why isn't he helping me? If he's _not_ going to help, why is he following me around like a lost little puppy?! Gosh, he could at least respond to me!' She was trying not to yell at him, but the stress pulled through and she snapped at him, "I thought you were helping me!" She stood abruptly pointing an accusing finger at him. "If you're not going to help: Go away!" She took off as assassins began to leave for missions and such and as a few returned. 'Good, with all the bodies, I can hide!'

She weaved her way through the crowd to her favorite spot when two thoughts struck her. The first: Altair had that "eagle vision", as they had officially dubbed it. That's why he was always able to find her. So there was not point in hiding. He'd get her anyways. But the second thought was what really stopped her. "What had Qa'im said about Khalif's eyes…?" She wondered aloud. The crowd began to thin, so she knew that Altair would be able to see her soon enough.

"Ru'yah!" 'Damn!' She heard him calling her name, so he must have spotted her. And sure enough when she looked up, he was already making a B-line to her.

"Damnable woman, I _am_ helping!" Seeing her eyes; he stopped in front of her instead of grabbing her collar like he had intended to do originally. "What?" His voice was cold, he was still mad that she'd taken off how she had.

"What did you do with the 'thing' after we killed Al Mualim?" He stared at her for a moment not picking up what he was putting down.

"I gave it to Aamir, after much thought, of course. What made you think of that?" He gave her a puzzled look, telling her that she was not making a lot of sense right then.

"His eyes."

"What?" Ru'yah huffed, hoping he was only playing dumb.

"Qa'im said something was wrong with Khalif's eyes."

"You think Aamir used the Apple and he is making Khalif-"

Someone clapped behind them. "You two are simply just trouble." He focused his attention on Ru'yah. " Young Ru'yah… How did you figure it out?" Ru'yah swallowed. "Someone told me that something was wrong with Khalif's eyes. Everything I know about the Apple and how it operates, it all just clicked into place." Ru'yah shrugged and threw her fiercest glare at Aamir.

Both Ru'yah and Altair were in fighting stances, ready for the inevitable that was soon to follow. Altair; without speaking and quicker than lightning, lunged for Aamir, his hidden blade at the ready.

Time slowed for Ru'yah as a body stepped in front of Aamir and Ru'yah suddenly found herself pulling Altair back towards her to avoid his blade hitting the new comer. Altair fell back onto Ru'yah, his shoulder digging into her wound. She gritted her teeth and frowned forcing a groan back.

"Hmm. Even now, young Ru'yah protects him still. Take care of them Khalif." Ru'yah looked at Altair, she could see the anguish in his eyes; he knew if Ru'yah hadn't stopped him, he'd have killed her apprentice and she certainly would never have forgiven him.

That was when it hit her. Something was off about Aamir, especially how he spoke. Kind of like how she did…

Aamir began walking away and when his sleeve swished lightly in the sudden breeze, Ru'yah could see the Apple in his hand, "Why?! Why, Aamir?! We trusted you!" Two young assassins began to block Aamir's way when he used the Apple to kill them. "No!" Ru'yah dropped to her knees as the two novices both turned to each other and stabbed their swords through the others stomach. A sob choked Ru'yah, "No…"

Altair stood stoic as ever. He wouldn't, couldn't, look at Ru'yah, couldn't see the pain etched on her face. It would hurt him too much and he needed to focus as much as he possibly could right now.

"No one stop him!" Everyone looked at Altair as he moved to Aamir; he drifted past Khalif, dancing away from his sword strokes, "Ru'yah." She looked up at him, "Stop Khalif." She stood on shaky and uncertain legs as Altair spoke knowing what she had to do. She nodded, and before Khalif could attack Altair, she intercepted him, using her sword to stop his advance. A left block, using her sword to push him back.

"Khalif! Think about what you're doing!"

Ru'yah hopped back to avoid getting hit. She blocked Khalif's next sword stroke, trying desperately not to get hit. The Apple's power was making Khalif fight better. She'd never be able to beat him if he kept up how well he was fighting. She moved forward, pushing Khalif back, if she hoped to live, she'd have to fight on the offensive and defensive as well.

Back and forth it went, Khalif stuck, Ru'yah block. Ru'yah struck, Khalif blocked.

And all the while, Altair and Aamir were facing off. "You do know that I killed Al Mualim, no?"

Aamir laughed. "That'll do you no good, you have much to learn, _novice_." Altair laughed this time. A slow, sadistic, happy to be killing laugh.

"I will always have much to learn, even after my death!" Aamir raised the Apple at Altair and he braced himself for his nerves freezing up on him, but Aamir turned to Khalif at the last minute. "No!" Altair reached out to Aamir, as if he could stop him.

The Apple pulsed, and Khalif's strokes became harder, more aggressive. Altair was frozen for a moment, but then he turned back to Aamir, striking, screaming in rage. Ru'yah's strength couldn't hold out much longer especially with her shoulder, and then the blow came, it dropped her defenses. Her sword dropped, another stroke and it was relieved from her hands, landing in the sand about fifteen meters from her.

A clean gash was opened from her right shoulder, straight between her breasts, all the way to her left hip. Her shirt and the bandages were cut. Her shirt flapped open, a few of the bandages stayed strong, continuing to hide her breasts. Ru'yah cried out in pain, falling back onto her back as her legs finally gave out on her.

The dirt dusted up, making her cough, it seeped into her newly formed cut and dusted over her robes. She peek her eyes open at Khalif. He was advancing toward her still, a blank look on his face, his eyes dull, sword raised above his head. Ru'yah cringed; she knew she was going to die. She couldn't move out of the way in time. Her chest wouldn't allow her to. And Aamir wouldn't show mercy. He'd have Khalif kill her, and then Altair, then he'd probably let Khalif realize what he'd done, so he'd have to live with the knowledge for the rest of his life. Or Altair would kill Khalif protecting them and then have to live with that for the rest of his life!

As Khalif prepared to strike, his arms tense, Ru'yah squeezed her eyes shut and looked away, waiting for the killing blow. Nothing came. The air was still. The only sound was of the Apple's hum after use. A sword clattered, to the around, it was in front of Ru'yah. Another two objects dropped father and to right of Ru'yah. She peeked her eyes open, trying to figure out what happened. The dust slowly clearing away.

Khalif stood above her, his hands covering his mouth, his eyes wide. He was visibly trembling. There were tears burning at both their eyes. The realization that she was alive and that he almost killed her. "Master… I…" Altair brushed by Khalif and knelt by Ru'yah; he ripped her sleeves off, pushing them onto her wound. She gritted her teeth and tried to stay still.

"Come on now, we could have fixed the front of my robes. But now we have to-" He placed a hand under her knees, and the other wrapped around her side. The pain in her chest cut her off and Altair smirked. He lifted her up chuckling, "Always getting hurt, huh? Besides, you need new robes anyway."

She cracked a pain filled smile. "You're too kind." The two moved past Khalif, and Ru'yah grabbed his sleeve, stopping Altair. "Go! Run to Acre. Get Malik!" When Khalif didn't move she huffed. "Go!" He shook himself, and scrambled away. She placed her hand across her stomach and leaned her head onto Altair's shoulder. She was glad he was with her.

"Why'd you send him away? He's devastated. He almost killed you." Altair rushed up a set of stairs to the infirmary. Ru'yah's face crinkled in pain, and she did not answer. Altair placed her upon an open bed, which there was many, and moved away, bringing towels back with him. He placed them over her wound and applied pressure.

Two of the assassin's nurses entered, "Where is the doctor?" They jumped at the sound of Altair's voice. "He's not in now sir. His wife's giving birth back at their-" The nurse who began, slowed when she saw Ru'yah. She rushed away, not uttering another word, getting a bowl of water, and strips of cloth, plus a blanket for Ru'yah's comfort.

Altair pressed around the wound trying to slow the bleeding, but the gash was deep. After a second he removed the bloodied sleeves and towels, and ripped her robes away from the wound, giving the girl's space to clean the wound. "You should really consider going on a date with me before you rip my clothes away." Ru'yah chuckled at her own joke.

"You are choosing now of all times, to joke?" As the girls cleaned, Ru'yah would flinch here and there (which luckily for Altair kept her from replying), but then Khalif entered, with Malik following. Her face lit up; happy to know they were all there.

"Ru'yah!" Malik rushed to her side. "I was on my way up the hill when Khalif came huffing at me! He said he almost killed you and that you had asked for me!" Malik seemed to gush the words out. Altair moved above the bed, and brushed a few stray strands of hair from her forehead, it was already beading with sweat. She looked at Khalif who was silently leaning on the wall next to the entrance; his face was pinched up in a sorrowful expression. She pointed her finger at him and then beckoned for him to come over to her. He obeyed, slowly approaching her bedside, never meeting her gaze.

"I'm so… I just…" She cut him off, "Shh." He sniffed wiping his eyes. She reached for his hands and caught one, pulling him over to her and down onto his knees. She pet his head gently as she 'shh'd him. "Don't you dare cry. _You_ didn't do anything." She smiled weakly at him as Malik continued where the girls had left off. The two nurses had left, knowing the boys could take care of Ru'yah that and they must have sensed how personal the conversation was about to get.

"But I held the sword! My arms and body acted, and oh Allah! I was aware the whole time. But I couldn't do anything!" Tears began to brim in his eyes again and she easily wiped them away.

"It was Aamir." Altair didn't mention that Aamir was dead and that, once again, they were without a Mentor, just to put his mind at ease. Khalif nodded, wiped his eyes again and smiled at Ru'yah and then Altair. She smiled weakly back at him, and then grunted in pain as Malik pressed too hard.

"Sorry." She waved him away as he turned away getting a needle and thread. Ru'yah looked away and braced herself for the pain. Khalif took her left hand again and squeezed, someone else took her right hand and squeezed also. Judging by the texture of rough softness to it, it was Altair. How nice of him to support him in her time of need! 'Yeah right.' She squeezed her eyes shut, "I'll go fast. But it's still going to hurt."

Ru'yah nodded, "I know. Just get it over with." Malik nodded to Khalif and Altair' then slid the needle through the two separated flaps of her skin, pulling the thread through and closing the wound manually. It was fast, but Malik had been right, it hurt like hell. Ru'yah cried out, but kept still, with each cry of pain she squeezed Khalif's and Altair's hands. The pressure of her squeezes also gradually increased as Malik got farther and farther down her wound. Tears eventually made their way out and soon enough Ru'yah was full out crying in pain. The sobs were heavy and worked their way through her body. And Altair, Khalif and Malik could do nothing for her.

Each time Malik slid the needle through and pulled the thread through, she cried out in pain. A few tears slid down her cheeks, and a sob shook her. She didn't know how long she could stand the pain, it was killing her.

* * *

><p>When Malik finished and he'd cleaned all the towels, bowls and blood and such, Altair placed the blanket the nurse had brought, over Ru'yah. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing evenly. When he turned to leave, she grabbed his hand. "Please don't leave me." Sweat beaded across her forehead still, and Altair sat down, wiping it away. He was sitting right next to her stomach his hands in his lap.<p>

She smiled. "Thank you. I just… I do not want to sleep alone." He frowned down at her.

"You are alright. I will watch over you." Ru'yah smiled dreamily, her hand still holding his. She didn't reply, but she slowly drifted off into a deep happy and comfortable sleep.

* * *

><p>Ru'yah slowly stood, her chest didn't hurt. In fact her chest was completely healed, she looked around. Where was she, it was strange, if that. There were white lines appearing and disappearing, it was white. Everywhere. Ahead of her, there was a man; he looked a bit like Altair.<p>

"Hello!"

They didn't turn to her. 'Did they not hear me? Or are they just ignoring?' She frowned, "Where are we?" The mysterious person finally turned to her. He looked like Altair. The golden eyes, scar on his lip, short brown hair, strong facial structure. He was handsome too, but was it him? "Altair?"

The man's eyes widened, "You know him?" She nodded, he looked like him, but who was he if he wasn't Altair?

"Who are you, if you don't mind my asking?"

The strange Altair-look-a-like turned back to her and looked her in the eye, "I'm Desmond. Desmond Miles." He looked around them, "And you would be?"

She stepped towards him cautiously. "I'm Ru'yah. Ru'yah Nejem." Desmond 'hmmed.' "Where are we?" He looked back at her a shocked expression twisting his features.

"You're telling me, that you don't know we're in an Animus in Abstergo? Though, how we're communicating is beyond me."

The man suddenly disappeared suddenly leaving Ru'yah alone. "Animus? Abstergo? And what kind of name is Desmo-" The ground below her fell out and Ru'yah was falling endlessly. A scream ripped free from her throat as the world around her disappeared.

* * *

><p>Ru'yah's eyes snapped open. The room was dark, and Altair was sitting on the floor next to her bed, still holding her hand. She carefully removed her hand from his and sat up; she cringed when her stitched wound throbbed painfully. Slowly, Ru'yah slipped out of bed and padded quietly across the room. She squeezed out the door and moved down the halls, moving as quiet as a mouse with her destination in mind.<p>

When she reached his door, she quietly entered. She sat down on the floor in front of his bed, and watched Khalif's chest rise and fall quietly.

"He's so worried you'll never forgive him."

Ru'yah looked back at Malik. "I already have." She smiled quietly. Reaching up, she gently stroked Khalif's ruffled black hair. A soft motherly smile graced her lips, "He really is adorable when he's asleep."

"You did not actually think you could get away without me knowing, did you?" Ru'yah glanced back at Altair to see him standing in the doorway.

"Of course not. But… I just… I had to see him. Had to make sure my boy was safe." As she glanced back at him, she noticed what she had failed to notice before. Altair was shirtless and wore baggy night pants in place of his normal attire. He must have slipped away while she slept. She found herself smiling at the thought of him coming back and taking her hand in his even though he did not have too.

Altair nodded and then entered the room, he approached Ru'yah, "We have to get you back to the infirmary before the doctor returns." She nodded, knowing he'd take her back one way or another and kissed Khalif's forehead and left the room quietly.

Altair followed silently, while Malik stayed with Khalif. "How long will you stay?"

Malik hmmed, "How ever long it takes." Altair nodded and opened the door. Before he could leave though, Malik's voice stopped him. "We're going to need a new Mentor. A permanent Mentor." Altair nodded, not even looking at Malik. He exited quietly with many thoughts still in the forefront of his mind.

When Altair caught up to Ru'yah, she stopped and looked back at him. "You know, when we 'fell' off of the Stronghold the pictures of my life, I'm guessing is what they were, were… they scared me honestly." She fiddled her thumbs and fingers.

"How?" His voice was gentle and kind. Something unusual from him no matter the situation. But then again, he'd been pretty kind to her lately for some reason.

"The pictures focused on me… and… you." Her voice trailed off, and at Altair's blank look, she elaborated. "The picture that scared me the most was…" She trailed off again, not wanting to tell him, but she knew Altair would push for answers now. She knew she'd already said too much and he would certainly get her to tell him.

"What?" She scuffed her toe lightly on the floor. "Tell me." 'Please don't make me...' Altair lifted her chin with his finger.

She looked him in his eyes and took a deep calming breath, "It was us." He looked at her, his finger dropping from her chin, "Huh?" She sighed and threw her hands up.

"_Us._ Together." At his expression, she scoffed, showing she wished she'd never said anything. He was about to say something, but she held her hand up, stopping him. "Believe me, it gets worse. I was sitting on a bed, holding a baby boy. You were _smiling fondly_ down at both of us. Your arm was across my shoulders, a name also echoed, _Sef_." She had to slowly say it, as if she tasted it on her tongue. "I'm pretty sure _you_ said the name." Altair didn't say anything, he just looked at her. When Ru'yah couldn't stand him just staring at her, and not saying anything, she turned back to the infirmary and he added back. She could hear Altair following her.

Back in the infirmary, Ru'yah laid down on her bed and fell asleep right as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

><p>Ru'yah awoke once again in the strange white world. What had… Desmond… said?<p>

Animus.

She was in an Animus. "Huh. I'm here again." She stood and brushed off her clothes. She looked at them. A dress, baby blue.

"It looks good on you." She looked up, Desmond stood there. He was clad in a pair of dark jeans (Jesus, how did she know what those were?!), a white button down long sleeved shirt and had a white T-shirt under the button down. The collar was down and the top three buttons were unbuttoned. "Thank you. Are we still in the Animus?" He nodded, sadly almost.

All of a sudden the white changed to an island. The clouds above darkened and seemed to become heavier and everything gained a blue-teal tint. There were two black rectangular pillars with a blue screen in front of her. She pulled her eyebrows together staring at it, trying to figure out what it was already.

On a rock in front of it appeared another man. "You found her! Good job, 17!" The new comer materialized right in front of her, "You have been missing for a long time. I promise. _And_, you are blocking our way to Altair's memories!" He roughly grabbed her chin.

"16. Calm down! I only need Ezio's memories to get out of here! Altair's are not mandatory!" Desmond reached out to them, but, 16 (If that was really his name) with Ru'yah, materialized on top of a pillar. She would have staggered back if it wasn't for 16's grip on her chin. He leaned in close to her face; his breath didn't even smell like _anything_.

"How are you physically in 1911, 14?!" A pang of pain shot through her head. '14? What is he talking about?! Is he _calling_ me, 14?' She fell down in front of 16, his hand falling to his side; she held her head and released a bloodcurdling scream. "Well?!"

His voice was so loud, "I don't know!"

In a flash, and a single touch, she was back near Desmond his arms holding her steady. He crouched by her, 16 was back too, but Desmond pushed him back. "No!" 16's cry of anguish caused Desmond to turn back to Ru'yah, but she was gone.

* * *

><p>Ru'yah shot up in bed, with sweat coating her skin. Her eyes were blurred from the sweat and her ears were ringing horribly. Altair was above her, frantically trying to get her to wake up. He was yelling something at her. She looked at him as the ringing in her ears cleared. He wiped his thumb over her cheek, he was talking.<p>

"-you just started to scream! What is going on!?" She looked at him, his face was dangerously close to hers and he was showing an unusual amount of concern.

"I'm fine. It was only a bad dream. A voice in the back of her head whispered to her; 'Was that even a dream?' 'Was it the truth?' 'Who were they?' She shuddered but Altair didn't seem to notice.

Go back to sleep in that case." He smoothed the top of her hair down and wiped some more sweat away from her forehead. He sat down on the floor and Ru'yah bit her lip, she really didn't like the empty space next to her.

Ru'yah glanced down at the back of Altair's head. She wiggled her thumbs and watched their movement's carefully. "Altair…" He 'hmmed' and shrugged his shoulders in acknowledgment. "Will… would you sleep with me?" The minute the words left her mouth, she regretted them. She knew how he'd see it.

A smirk graced Altair's lips. "_Sleep_ with you?"

Ru'yah blushed furiously and stuttered, "N-no!" After a second she flopped onto her left, away from Altair. Despite how her chest throbbed painfully in protest. "Never mind! Forget I said anything!" She huffed puling the covers around her shoulders causing her more pain. When she flopped, she had moved to the farther side, leaving a space behind her, but she wasn't aware of that fact.

She stared at the floor, trying to trace imaginary lines with her eyes. Ru'yah heard a chuckle behind her, cool air on her backside and then a warm body squeezed in behind her. She knew Altair had moved into the bed with her like she had asked, but she couldn't fight the blush that moved up her neck and to her cheeks. Ru'yah could feel how the curve of her back seemed to fit perfectly with his chest. Altair's chest barely touched her back, but she could feel his muscle contort with the movement of air swishing in and out of his lungs, his abdomen brushed her lower back due to the curve of her spine. She shivered involuntarily, "Cold?" He whispered the single word; she could feel his breath caress her neck and ear, making her shiver once again.

"No." He chuckled again and moved closer, his hand resting on her hip above the sheets.

"Always so nervous." Altair chuckled once again and Ru'yah gulped. "Go back to sleep, I'll watch your back." Ru'yah did as she was told and soon feel into a deep, dreamless sleep. Before the darkness took over her mind, she thought she felt soft lips gently kiss her head…

* * *

><p>The next morning brought shouts and anger to Ru'yah's ears. 'What a fantastic way to awake in the morning.' "<em>You<em> were _snuggled up_ against _her!_ _Her_ head was resting on _your_ chest. You can't say _nothing_ happened!"

There was a sigh. "What makes you think _we _did something? What makes you think _she'd_ let _me_ do anything to _her_." Ru'yah opened her eyes, sat up, stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she yawned.

"What is wrong?"

Malik and Altair looked at her. "_What did you two do last night?!_" Malik's narrowed eyes glanced from Altair to her. Ru'yah narrowed her own eyes and looked sharply at Malik.

"Why does it matter if _we did anything?_" Malik glared at her, but then his face softened as he realized it didn't.

"It does not." He looked away from her, not willing to meet her eyes.

Ru'yah threw her hands up. "You, Malik, are unbelievable! We, _me and Altair_, didn't do _ANYTHING_!" She stood up and approached the two men, ignoring her chest's throbbing.

Altair reached a hand to her, "Ru'yah, sit back down. _Now._" She turned to him and slapped his hand away, "No! I'm not going to stand for Malik accusing _you_ of taking advantage of me! Besides we all know you could not!" Altair looked at her questioning her if she wanted to test that. She didn't pay him any mind. Her face was flushed in anger. She turned back to Malik before Altair could reply. "I do not know when you became so judgmental! You should know, I would _never_ let him do anything, without _my consent!_ You also need to stop blaming Altair for everything that happens, sure he got Kadar killed, but get over it! And _I_ cannot replace Kadar! So learn how to live without him!" She was panting when she stopped, and Malik was staring at her in disbelief.

Her finger was digging into his sternum, without moving an inch, "_I _thought _you_ were nicer than this." He lowered her hand and stepped towards the door. Ru'yah's face contorted in sorrow as she reached out to him. "Malik-I-"

"No! _Do not_ start." He turned on his heel and left, not even giving them a last glance.

Ru'yah's eyes filled with tears. "Malik…" She collapsed and Altair followed her down, holding her against his chest as she held her head in her hands and the tears began to flow.

"Ru'yah." She shook her head.

"I've done it now! He will _never_ forgive me! Never." She went on like that but Altair tuned her out when Khalif appeared in the door.

"We need you two." He looked at Ru'yah.

"What..." Altair shook his head at him.

"She yelled at Malik on accident and now he refuses to associate with her." Khalif's eyebrows drew together. "He will never talk to me again."

He looked down at Ru'yah, "Hey there, Master." He spoke gently as her shoulders continued to shake. She was lying on Altair's chest, but Khalif pulled her off of him and to him, as she fell against him and began to cry harder, he stroked her hair. "It will be alright, Master. You shall see. Remember how you had already forgiven me? I am sure he too has already forgiven you. You only need to give Malik time to calm down. Alright?" She nodded awkwardly against his chest, as the sobs began to stop and she slowly calmed herself down. "We need to go, Altair." Khalif looked at him.

He nodded and helped Ru'yah to her feet. "I will be alright, let us just go." Still in her medical gown, the three left, headed outside. Ru'yah leaned on Altair for support, knowing she'd collapse otherwise.

When the three arrived outside, every assassin in Masyaf was gathered outside. Malik was by the railing, and when the three arrived, the whole courtyard quieted. Malik, without warning, began to speak. "As everyone knows. Aamir, our most recent Mentor, was recently killed." There was a murmur that ran through the crowd. Malik patiently waited as the crowd quieted down. "We are now in need of a permanent Mentor. One who will not leave us, or betray us. I vote… Altair."

Malik looked back at the three behind him, his eyes staying on Ru'yah's, "This is me moving on. Safety and peace, Ru'yah." Malik walked away, and a single tear fell down her cheek. Those five words would forever follow her because Malik had not forgiven her. And possibly never would. "Safety and peace, Malik." She didn't wipe the tear away, but she squared her shoulders and held her head high.

"Al-ta-ir!" The single name had turned into a chant as everyone joined in. Altair looked at Malik's retreating form and then to Khalif who smiled encouragingly at him.

"You can do it!" Altair turned to Ru'yah who smiled warmly at him, "I believe that Malik is correct. You are perfect for our Mentor."

Altair (who looked a tad bit scared, but would never admit it) nodded and stepped up, allowing Ru'yah to lean on Khalif. "I accept."

More cheers erupted on the quite hill side, and Altair was spun suddenly back to Ru'yah who enveloped him in a hug. He placed his hands on her back and squeezed her back lightly. "I'm glad you're our Mentor." She pulled away, smiling up at him.

His eyes narrowed at her, and her smile faltered. "You. Your first order is to get rested up and prepared for training Khalif."

He turned to Khalif, "_You_ are going to look after her." Khalif nodded and looked at Ru'yah, smiling. "Sounds good." He gently took Ru'yah's elbow, guiding her back to her room.

"Ru'yah." She looked back to Altair, "I'll talk to Malik for you." He looked at her; she smiled kindly back at him. "Thank you."

Altair looked back to the still cheering assassin's as Khalif escorted Ru'yah back to her room.

* * *

><p>AOS118: OMFG. Finished typing this up at 9:20 am in English 3! Whoo! Go sophomore typing powers! Anyways. Yeah. I've already started Chapter 10 too! Gotten addicted to writing this cause I know exactly what I want to happen as main points, just not the little things Toodooloo! Review, fave. Ya know!<p>

**_I also just went through HELL trying to update this shit! OMG, my freaking computer turned off to update iTunes, like... Really? Gosh._**


	11. 10 Trying to Relax? Nope!

AOS118: So... Yeah, we're here at 10. this and 11 to rewrite and then guess what! I got to force my imagination to work and give you guys a new FABULOUS chapter! :)

Khalif: Be prepared for shit to hit the fan!

Ru'yah: Watch your mouth Khalif! -hits him with a newspaper- What is this that I just hit him with?

AOS118: Ummm... Guys? If you don't mind, I'd like to get to the story...

Khalif/Ru'yah: Sure... whatever.

Disclaimer: I still do not own anything except the OC's and plot! :)

* * *

><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 10

Trying to Relax? Nope!

_9 months later..._

_Ru'yah_

Ru'yah sat up in bed, slowly, she stretched her arms and yawned. She smiled as she gathered her robes and left her room, gently closing the door, headed toward the bath house.

When she arrived, she walked to the far bath, happy to be alone. She stripped out of her loose pants and tank top, throwing them to the side. She gently lowered her well rested body into the hot waters, reveling in the warmth. She sat there for a moment staring at her healed chest wound. The scar left, was as bad as the original wound itself. She sighed heavily, tracing the outline of it.

The door behind her creaked open. She glanced back over her shoulder to see who entered, and when she saw their face, her lips tugged upwards into a smile. "Karima! Been a long time! Hello!"

Karima's head snapped toward Ru'yah, "Ru'yah? How are you?!" She waddled over to her, Ru'yah chuckled.

"I could be asking the same of you!" Ru'yah gestured at her, with a question of _What happened to you?_ "But, I am good, all the same!"

She smiled a motherly smile at the younger girl who then gestured shyly to Ru'yah in the tub, "Can I?..."

Ru'yah's eye brows knitted together in confusion, "Oh! Of course, get in here!" She shuffled to the other side as Karima stripped down and stepped gingerly into the warm waters.

"So... What happened to you that you have to _waddle_ around like a penguin?" Ru'yah couldn't hide the smile that was plastered on her face.

Karima fiddled her thumbs, "Well... I was sparring with my older brother. He is the only one whose willing too now a days. I accidentally hit him on his thigh a little to hard when he said something to me. After the shock of how hard the blow had been, he returned the favor of pain with a kick to my ribs and then a punch right in my abdomen. The force of his kick knocked me into the railing around the rink. He then kicked at both of my legs..." Ru'yah's jaw dropped as Karima laughed kind of nervously. "He freaked out as soon as he realized what he had done. He was so worried that he had hurt me really bad, but I assured him that I was fine!" Ru'yah chuckled at her, she also made a mental note to go talk to Karima's brother some time.

"I bet he was. He probably knows I would come kick his ass if he hurt you really bad..."

Karima smiled another shy smile at Ru'yah, "That is right. You know him... Heh..." There was a moment of silence between the two. "I like your hair..." Ru'yah looked down to her braid that was resting against her shoulder.

"Oh, thank you... I love your hair too, it is so beautiful." Karima, once again, smiled shyly as she twirled a short black curly lock around her finger. Her curls were those cute ones, that weren't as tight as a China doll's, but softer, and then framed her face perfectly. A sad smile graced Ru'yah's lips.

"You do realize that you do not need to be so formal and shy around me, Karima..." Karima nodded, a shy smile (again) graced her face. "I know... Its just..."

Ru'yah interrupted her, "I am a Master Assassin... I know. I am pretty sure I should be aware of that considering that is what I am!" She smiled happily thinking about it. Yep, she was badass!

Karima stared incredulously at Ru'yah. "The very first _female Master Assassin_! That is a huge deal! How can you not expect people to be nervous and respectful to you?! I mean, you were granted the rank the day after your wound finally healed!" Karima went on and on about how speacil Ru'yah was, but all Ru'yah could muster was a fake smiled, plastered on her face as she stared out the window. 'If only you knew, Karima. If only you knew...'

* * *

><p><em>Ru'yah<em>

"Altair!" Ru'yah approached the assassin with open arms. After her wound healed and she was allowed to leave her bed legitimately, she got closer to Altair since they decided they needed to be able to work together.

"Hello, Ru'yah!" He chuckled as she hugged him tightly. He smiled down at her, "Did you hold down the fort for me?" She nodded awkwardly against his shoulder. They pulled away smiling like fools and she turned toward Malik.

"Has it been long enough for you? I mean, I need my Big Bro! I thought he always had my back no matter what?" There was humor in her eyes as she casually taunted Malik. He nodded sadly as he strode over to the two and took Ru'yah in his arms.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you Malik! It was _sooooo_ uncalled for!" She gripped the back of his shoulder, fighting some tears.

He frowned and pulled back looking at her, "What are you talking about young one? _I _need to apologize to _you_. I said horrible things to you, and you're my little Sis, I need to be looking out for you and supporting you. Not shooting your hopes and dreams down the river! I should have listened to you and Altiar's explanation for sleeping in the same bed. Instead, I jumped to conclusions and I am very sorry." Ru'yah smiled and shook her head.

"That may be true, but if you could recall, I too said some pretty horrible things! We _both_ need to apologize. We both said horrid things, and did some horrid things toward each other." Malik nodded in agreement, "It is good to know that you have gotten so wise since I last saw you."

Ru'yah scoffed as they turned to Altiar who had been watching their exchange silently. "Me? Wise? Nah, I may be a wise-_ass_, but wise in general? Nope!" She giggled lightly at her terrible joke and slowly stopped as she glanced at the looks she received from Malik and Altair.

Malik looked back at Ru'yah, "You, young one, are lucky that Altair showed up when he did." She chuckled and moved back over to Altair to hug him again in thanks. It'd been way too long for her since she'd seen him. About three weeks, she was dying inside. His face seemed to brighten up her day and she loved that she could finally feel happy around him after his hatred towards her. But that also worried her, why was she suddenly feeling so... protective and... possessive? If that could be the right word for it, of Altair? He was a big boy, he could take care of himself... Right?

It felt very odd to her, but still it just felt so _right_, to be by his side and helping him through things. Especially after what he helped her through when Aamir had taken Khalif from her and tricked her and Altair into going to Acre to see Malik. Ru'yah knew deep down in her heart that it'd always, and forever, be that way between them now that they'd defeated Al Mualim, Aamir and many others together.

"Altair!" A smaller body flew past Ru'yah and into Altair's awaiting arms. Ru'yah smiled to herself, 'It certainly took him long enough to finally be okay with showing some kind of emotion. Her being injury prone and it causing her to become emotionally unstable. Then he officially met Khalif after he almost killed me and had to take care of me. It's as if he finally found the simpler and smaller joys of life.' She mused about Altair, 'He's definitely learned how to love and how to accept the love given to him in return.'

"-get to go and do things?!" Ru'yah blinked and came face to face with Khalif who was somehow in her arms and smiling a very big "Khalif Smile" at her. "What's the smile for Master?" Her eye brows crinkled together in confusion.

"Huh?" She looked at him as if he were crazy.

Khalif giggled, "When do I get to go and do things? You know? Like, missions and stuff like that? Stuff to help the Brotherhood!" She stepped back from him lightly.

"What do you mean?" He huffed in frustration at her.

"When do I get to go and do things? You know, like missions and errands?! Come on! Are you alright? I just told you that and I had to say it again. You are making me worried, Master." He gushed it out so fast that Ru'yah just kind of looked at him.

She realized what he was asking her and struggled to give him an answer.

"Uhhh." She chuckled lightly and shot Altair a look who obviously said something in front of Khalif. 'Save me you asshole!' "Well. You see Khalif-"

"I told you to be resting!" She glanced up at Altair inwardly smiling but on the outside looking a little guilty at him finally catching onto to the fact that she was supposed to be in her room and sleeping. Ru'yah sighed mentally but it was cut short when Khalif spoke up.

"Yeah, Master!" She looked at him and raised her fist at him, "You Khalif, were supposed to be taking care of her." He glanced back at Altair and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yeah, but, it's a little hard to take care of someone who isn't sitting there waiting to be taken care of." Ru'yah could practically see the vein in Altair's forehead pop up. She chuckled quietly glad to see that most of them were finally back to being their normal selves. And that Khalif had (luckily) moved on from his traumatic _experience_ in almost killing Ru'yah under Aamir's orders from the Apple.

"You know what Khalif?" He turned back to her excitedly, "Yes, Master?!"

She smiled and grabbed his shoulder and started past Malik and Altair, "How about we go and start your training?" Khalif jumped up and down in excitement, "Yeah!"

She bumped Altair's shoulder and smiled at him innocently as he smiled back at her in a sheepish yet flirty way.

He knew as well as she did that she had 9 months of rest and she'd be okay to go do things with her wound completely healed.

* * *

><p><em>Ru'yah<em>

The sun slowly set; casting shadows along the walls, and Ru'yah, who was still teaching Khalif how to throw a knife and have it spin through the air, but also how to throw a knife without it spinning through the air, looked up as an eagle flew over head. She jerked her head down and to the left as a sound was made from the wall.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!" Ru'yah jumped and released a very girly scream as Khalif fell to his butt laughing.

"That was funny, Master!" She started to kick at him, none too gently at that, as she screamed at him.

"There is nothing funny with the fact that I am horrified of things that go bump in the night!" Khalif continued to laugh as he scrambled out of the way of Ru'yah's foot. He jumped to his feet and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Bet you can not catch me! Eeek!" He scrambled away as Ru'yah's fist missed him by centimeters.

"Sure, but when I catch you, that tongue of yours is gone!" She threw another punch, but with her left arm, and when she moved her arm in the wrong way, sudden pain jolted through her arm and chest, stopping her fist. Why was her arm and chest hurting so badly?! Both her wounds were healed completely!

Ru'yah dropped to the ground screaming as Khalif rushed back to her and Altair swept down the stairs and to the two of them.

* * *

><p><em>Altair<em>

Altair sat at his desk sorting through piles and piles of paper. Who knew being the Mentor meant _paper_ work? He sat back and stretched his back as he gave a little yawn.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

Altair's chair tipped back as he fell out and scrambled up looking out the window searching for the reason there were screams outside.

Ru'yah and Khalif were no longer training, they were playing!? "There is nothing funny with the fact that I'm horrified of things that go bump in the night!" Hearing her voice again sent a pang through his heart as he watched Ru'yah begin to chase Khalif.

"Bet you cannot catch me! Eeek!" He chuckled as Ru'yah almost caught Khalif with a punch.

"Sure, but when I catch you, that tongue of yours is mine!" That was when she threw a punch with her left arm, stopped and fell to the ground screaming. He didn't have any time to see anything else for he spun quickly around.

Altair rushed out of Brotherhood's building and hurried to Ru'yah's side as others in the Brotherhood began to gather around too.

"Ru'yah, what is wrong?" Altair was kneeling by her side searching her body for any signs of blood but finding nothing.

She screamed again and rolled to her side, "I... Don't know! It just... started to hurt really bad! Something inside of me! Make it stop!" Her screams continued as Abbas stepped out from behind a pillar.

Altair twirled around to face him, "This is what you get!" There was a crazy look in his eyes as he stepped out towards Altair, the Apple of Eden in hand.

Altair stood slowly raising his hands up at him. "Abbas, put the Appl-"

"No! You took Aamir, my _father_, from me! So now, Altair! YOU, must also lose something close to you!" A smile so vile and full of evil curled Abbas' lips into a Cheshire cat smile.

"What I get? What do you mean?" The crazy look in Abbas' eyes never faded. "My father, Aamir-" there was a movement of a novice to Abbas' left and he turned to face them, the Apple pulsed and the novice stabbed themselves in their abdomen.

"NO!" 'It was just like with Aamir!' Altair started to move forward when Ru'yah cried out, tears streaking down her cheeks. He already knew what she would do. She lurched to her feet and stumbled blindly towards Abbas and the dead novice, Altair silently moved with her and pulled her back a bit. But she continued to try to reach Abbas, more than likely with the intent to kill him, which would truthfully only get her killed. 'She really hates when this shit happens to us!' Abbas attention had returned to Ru'yah. Abbas began to laugh, "_That_ is what you get. You took the most precious person is my life. So I shall take yours."

The pain had stopped for Ru'yah, but as soon as Abbas finished, he looked at Ru'yah who couldn't help but to hold his gaze. Her eyes were bloodshot but they portrayed SO much hate, that Altair began to worry. She couldn't let Abbas effect her so much! They, the Brotherhood, needed her. She was an inspiration, for shits sake! More importantly... _He_ needed her. But as Ru'yah held Abbas' gaze; was when her internal pain began. She reached out blindly for Altair who was behind her. Her hand finally found purchase in his robes, "Altair..." She moaned his name in pain, "It hur-" She was cut off as a pain twisted inside of her and she released a blood curdling scream. Her hands curled in on themselves in Altair's robes and she sank to the dirt with Altair following. She curled in on herself and eventually her head rested on Altair's knees as he held her. "Please make it stop! Please!" Another wave of pain engulfed her and she shot up as her eyes glazed over.

"Can you not see young Ru'yah?! What a shame!" Abbas' taunting voice filtered into Ru'yah's ears but she ignored him, the pain blocking out everything else. The pain in her abdomen spiked again and it felt as though someone was twisting a knife in her stomach. She crumpled against Altair's lap as more tears fell down her cheeks and as her screams of agony grew louder.

Sad mumbling ran throughout the crowd surrounding Abbas, Malik, Khalif, Altair and Ru'yah.

"_How can Abbas do that to Ru'yah?" _

"_Aamir was Abbas' father?! That's impossible!" _

"_Should we try to help Ru'yah?" _

"_Altair said not too though! We cannot disobey him!"_

"_Why is Abbas doing this?" _

Altair looked up angrily at Abbas. There was an ache growing in his heart, and that ache was increasing as he watched Ru'yah suffer. He knew that if he got too attached to Ru'yah... That he'd do something he might eventually regret. But... He couldn't help himself. "Stop this madness now, Abbas!"

Abbas chuckled as he gazed down at Altair and Ru'yah. "Why would I? This is just sooo much fun!" Ru'yah screamed again as another wave of pain wracked her body.

"Because, Altair said to!"

Everyone looked up as a new comer jumped into the fray. He jumped from somewhere above them, and landed on Abbas, stabbing their sword into Abbas' head. Abbas crumpled to the ground in a heap under the weight of his Assassin. The Apple slowly fell from his grip and rolled next to Altair's thigh. While keeping Ru'yah's shaking form close to him, "Khalif. Hold this." Khalif scampered up next to Altair as he handed the Apple to Khalif who took it tentatively, not sure if he wanted to touch it.

He wrapped Ru'yah tighter in his arms as he lifted her up as she clung to him, hooking her arms around her neck. "No more. Please. I'll do anything." She kept mumbling things along those lines as Altair moved off to the infirmary, the crowd parting like Moses parted the red sea. She was so accustomed to the pain that she didn't even notice it had stopped. Before he entered the Brotherhood, he turned back to all of the Assassin's under him. "You keep our savior company and find him a room." There was a chorus of 'yeahs' as Altair stared at him. "What's your name?"

He looked up at Altair and smirked lightly, "Sabeh." He bowed. "At your service Altair Ibn-La Ahad." Altair nodded barely noticing the obviously not native accent Sabeh had.

"Good to have you. I appreciate what you did."

* * *

><p><em>Altair<em>

"Doctor?! Hey!" Altair forced open the infirmary's doors and looked around as he called out to the Doctor. The Brotherhood's Doctor stumbled out of a back room and mumbled something probably to his wife, one of the nurses, at the new voice.

"Altair! What can I do for you?" He glanced down at Ru'yah who was still mumbling curled up into as much of a ball in Altair's arms as she could manage, "Young Ru'yah hurt herself again? It's been months since she's been here! That seems like it is a new record for her, is it not?"

"Yeah... Something like that." Altair spoke hurriedly as he laid her down on the closest bed, she curled in on herself.

"Something like that?"

Altiar watched as the Doctor started to pull on some glove type things. "Abbas tried to kill her slowly with the Apple to get back at me for killing Aamir."

The Doctor scoffed, "And shes still alive? She must be tough as Hell on wheels. Here, move her over to this table." Altair picked her back up and she immediately curled back up.

"Abbas wanted her to suffer before Death's kind embrace." Altair walked over to the table that had been cleared and began to place Ru'yah on the table when she gabbed his robes harshly.

"No!" She looked up at him with a face that broke his cold bitter heart into pieces. Her eyes were wide and red, tears still streaking her cheeks. Her lower lip was quivering and she was shaking all over. "Please, Altair, don't leave me. Don't put me down. I cannot be alone right now." He looked at the Doctor for permission.

"Just sit down with her." He gestured to the table as Altair sat with Ru'yah still in his arms. He left to go grab the supplies he needed.

"I am right here, do not worry." Altair stroked Ru'yah's hair as she curled up even more. "Right here." He whispered into her hair. "You do realize that you are going to have to uncurl and stretch out a bit so the Doctor can fix you."

There was a sudden knock at the door and Altair looked up to see Umar, his father, walk in. "Hello son." He stopped at the end of the table. "How is she?"

Altair shook his head. "She is really shaken up. I cannot put her down without her freaking out on me." Umar 'hmmed' quietly to himself, at least that's what Altair thought.

"Well. Give this too her. It was included in the note Khaliq gave me long ago." Altair took it and nodded. "Alright."

Umar stood there for a moment almost awkward. "Well, I will come back later to check on both of you alright?"

Altair nodded, "Thank you."

Umar left leaving Altair and Ru'yah alone on the bed for a while. Neither said anything, there was nothing to say.

Soon enough, the Doctor finally returned and began to help Ru'yah.

* * *

><p><em>Sabeh<em>

Sabeh slowly took in his surroundings. He knew what he was there for and he knew where he had to go.

He crept out of his "room" and closed the door trying to be as quiet as possible, he'd rather not have to tell _anyone_ what he was doing.

Once he was out, he snuck around the corridors of the Brotherhood's stronghold, avoiding anyone or anything that went bump in the night. He did not have the time to be stopped and questioned. If he was going to do his mission, it'd have to be now, while the girl was weak.

Sabeh finally came to his destination, the infirmary.

Easing the door open, he glanced once around him and then slipped in once he saw the coast was clear.

The walls of the infirmary were all white, with six tables spaced evenly apart on both sides of the room. There was a door on the left wall at the back and one on the right wall in between the third and fourth tables. On each table were clean white sheets with a pillow at the top. The only odd thing about the room was the table directly in front of him in the middle of the room.

Upon the table were two bodies, Sabeh was too far away to make out who they were.

Inching ever closer, Sabeh readied his knife in case one of them happened to be his target. He hoped one would be, especially since there was no one else currently in the room and he'd seen the head of this Assassin' Guild Altair leave his target.

When he was next to the pair he peeled back a light blanket to reveal Altair. He was holding something it seemed... Sabeh pulled the cover the rest of the way back, careful not to disturb the two's rest.

Ru'yah was curled up in Altair's arms.

'Found you.'

Sabeh raised the knife to Ru'yah's throat when she stirred. He froze for a moment, but then quickly hid underneath the table, pulling the sheet with him to hide his crouched form. He steadied his breath and listened.

"You are awake. How do you feel?" That was Altair, he was supposedly cold-hearted. There goes that information.

"I'm alright, a little dizzy, but I shall manage." Sabeh's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his target's voice.

As the two continued to talk, Sabeh began to trek back so he could sneak out one of the back doors. Now was not the time he wanted to kill her. The door at the front opening scared Sabeh, and his head snapped to the front.

Altair was leaving as Ru'yah laid back down.

Maybe, for now. Just for now... He'd let her be.

Besides, his higher ups didn't give him a time limit in which she had to die.

* * *

><p>AOS118: ….. :) I'm alive :) And I'm working through this all!<p> 


	12. 11 The Scars of Your Love

_**VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!**_ : This chapter contains MAJOR spoilers for AC3. If you haven't completed the game. Then I wouldn't advise this chapter for you just yet. But if you don't care, read away! :D

AOS118:HOLY PENISES! This shit is being updated, and then... DUN DUN! A new one~! And I don't know where everybody is.. No one wants to do intros with me now :(

_Random Fun Fact of the Sto_ry:I always have a YOLO! Moment in my head when typing these chapters up since I didn't really look into the whole how they talked back then thing... Like when I decide if something was called a certain word, if I don't know and can't think of anything else (or too lazy) I'm always like "Well, fuck it! YOLO!" And then put it in... I bet you guys are like "-.- No. Just no." ... I 3 you all I promise!

This is also now dedicated to **QUEEN-MEANIE **and **DanAlaya** for their comments that made me smile like a little kid on Christmas!

Disclaimer: DONT OWN NOTHING. 'Cept my OC's and the plot :)

* * *

><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 11

The Scars of Your Love

_Ru'yah_

As Ru'yah watched Altair's back retreat, a frown graced her lips. He'd been so much help, but she felt as though he were suffocating her with his help. But the nice girl in her said she couldn't be a bitch and be like: "Altair, I am alright, please stop helping me every two seconds with everything." She'd one: hurt his feelings, two: probably piss him off. That wouldn't help her. She needed him as much as she wished she did not.

But the mean girl in her really wanted to lash out and tell him off...

'Ugh. Feelings are such a pain in the ass... Maybe this is why Altair barely has them... Huh, makes sense.'

As he was closing the door, he gave her one last wistful smile, which she returned, and then he closed the door.

The minute the door closed her smile dropped into a frown and she sighed, scratching the back of her head. To the right of her she caught a movement and looked to find nothing. "Jeesh. Jumping at nothing. Just calm down Ru'yah and go back to sleep. You jump too much anyway." She told herself in hope of being able to fall into a deep and calm sleep. But as she laid down and closed her eyes, she heard a door open and close. She sighed.

"Altair. I'm fine. There's no need to stay with me any longer, I'll be fine."

But when she sat up and looked toward the front doors, no one was there and no one was approaching her. 'Crap. Maybe I do need more help than I'd like to admit.' She looked around, was she hearing things? Ru'yah shook her head and laughed as she laid back down. Her? Hearing strange noises? Yeah right!

Not even a few minutes later, another mysterious sound was made behind her. She sat up. There was no way she was just hearing things in her head, that sound was real, and it was the pitter patter of footsteps. Stealthy footsteps. "Hello?" She tried to peer into the darkness. But the darkness limited her vision. She huffed almost feeling a gaze on her from somewhere within the never ending darkness. Whoever it was, was totally playing dirty since she couldn't see anything at that moment!

Gathering the covers around her, Ru'yah began to mumble to herself. "There's no one here but me. Altair would never have left, at least not without a fight, if there was someone besides me in here."

Laughing quietly to herself, she laid back down once again and concentrated on the feeling of the cool air drafting in from the window to her left and above her. "Nothing here."

_Ru'yah_

Sometime passed and Ru'yah thankfully found herself within her dream world. There was no weird white background with stuff in the back coming and going. There was no 16 or Desmond, there hadn't been for a while now. So... Did that mean that she'd imagined it all? No. They both existed, just... Some where else. Yeah, that was it...

Shaking 16 and Desmond from her thoughts, Ru'yah began to look around her. But first, she noticed the bright yellow dress that swept down her figure and stopped right below her knees. She spun once and giggled childishly at the way it spun in a perfect circle. Taking her thoughts from the beautiful dress that sheathed her body, she turned the childish thoughts to the sky that was a pale blue with light and fluffy white clouds dotting the sky. As she looked at them she noticed something peculiar about one of the clouds. "Hey! That looks like a dinosaur!-" She immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. What was wrong with her in her dreams? Why was she so freaking different?! And what the hell was a dinosaur!?

A disturbing thought hit her. What if she started to openly act like this with Altair and them? They'd never understand what she was going through... Ever.

But on the other hand, she always said things that she seemed to know, but at the same time she knew she didn't know. Like, what was a dinosaur? She seemed to know they were something that once roamed the Earth, but what were _they_.

"Well... well, well. What do we have here?" Ru'yah spun around, searching the area for 16's voice. She knew for a fact that she had just heard it. "I can't believe that I got in while Desmond was off busy with other... _things_." There was a laugh from behind her, but it also sounded like it was from in front of her... "Desmond can't save you now, 14."

As 16 taunted her, Ru'yah couldn't bring herself to actually reply, instead she continued to scan the area in a panic. "And now..." Ru'yah heard the _whoosh_ of 16's quick movement, but she couldn't turn around fast enough as 16 grabbed her arms and locked them against her sides. "I can get my answers... So..." Getting her arms behind her back, he stroked her cheek, "How are you physically in _1191 A.D,_ my dear?"

Ru'yah did the only thing she could think of: scream.

But, before she could release the scream building in her throat, she was forced from the "dream" (she didn't know what to call them anymore) and was awoken by someone near her.

She lashed out at them in fear of it being 16 somehow, "Get away!" She jumped from her familiar bed, despite the now reopened wound that was now healing once again that also throbbed painfully, and landed just feet from her assailant. She looked at him, he was shrouded in shadows so she couldn't make out a thing of him. At least she figured it was a he.

Just as her attacker was going to speak, Altiar threw open the double doors and stormed in going straight to her attacker. For a moment she watched as Altair crossed the room in a few bounds. Without thinking, she rushed to the table trying to get to the new man, but Altair was faster. "Wait!" She had finally gotten a good look at him.

Altair stopped just short of grabbing the poor man and lifting him off the floor. "What Ru'yah?" He never took his eyes from the new comer. She stumbled on the edge of the table and caught herself.

"Don't kill him! Please!" More panic flashed through Ru'yah, what if he asked why he shouldn't? What would she possibly say to him? That she just _knew _that his strange new man was going to be their ally? She had recognized him as the man who'd saved her earlier. Saved them all. The panic quickly passed as Altair sighed, stepping away from him. As Altair was stepping back, he looked at the man, really looked at him, "Sabeh?" Altair sounded... almost... relieved? The new man, Sabeh, smiled sheepishly and waved.

"Hello again, Altair." Ru'yah looked from one to the other, trying to figure out who this Sabeh was. And how the two men knew each other. She didn't remember a Sabeh...

"I'm very sorry for scaring you." Ru'yah shook herself and looked at Sabeh.

"It's alright. I'm sorry for freaking out so bad." Sabeh shot her a soft smile.

"It was fully expected." He smiled kindly at her and she felt her heart jump in her chest.

She nodded respectfully as Altair turned to her, "I guess, we'll go. Let you get your rest, right?" He looked to Sabeh who nodded in agreement. And who also pretended not to notice Altair's _look._

As the two left, Ru'yah laid back down, having not moved to far from her bed, and slowly drifted back into sleep, a dreamless and quiet sleep that was much needed and appreciated by her.

_Altair_

As the door closed behind him and Sabeh, Altiar sighed. He was agitated at himself, at Ru'yah, at the fact that he couldn't afford to let Ru'yah out of his sights without her finding a way to get injured. Or someone else finding a way to injure her. Shaking his thoughts away he turned to Sabeh. Maybe he needed to stop stressing about her...

"What were you doing in there?"

His words were short and crisp as he looked stubbornly at Sabeh, determined to get a real answer out of the mysterious man. "Nothing. I was just curious if the girl whose life I had saved was doing alright." Sabeh shrugged at Altair like nothing really truly had happened. Or almost happened.

Altair narrowed his eyes at him, "Why did you save her?"

Sabeh scoffed, "Are you questioning a good Samaritan? I could go and-" Sabeh began to turn toward the door but not before Altair's hand thumped gently against it.

"No. I am very thankful, just concerned with who you are and why you decided saving her was a good idea." Sabeh strolled across the hall, Altair's eyes watching him the entire time.

"I happened to hear the commotion and figured 'Why not go and see what is going on?' Kind of a good thing that I decided too, huh?" Altair sighed, his agitation growing, "Yes it was." He shook himself trying to figure out what he originally wanted to question him about. "Why were you in there with her?" Altair looked at him, trying to see beneath the cloth that masked his face.

"Like I told you, I wanted to make sure the girl I saved actually lived. Otherwise my efforts would've been wasted... and that would be a real shame, don't you think so?" He shrugged as if he saved damsels in distress all the time. Altair, completely ignoring Sabeh's question, countered with one of his own, "Then how did you get in? I was in there, not but a few moments ago and I never heard or saw you enter, and you weren't out here a second ago." It was Sabeh's turn to sigh in agitation.

"Why can you not simply say thank you instead of questioning her savior?" Altair narrowed his eyes at him, "Because she screamed." He watched as Sabeh tilted his head lightly to the left. "Why'd she scream?" Sabeh chuckled realizing what Altair was slowly getting at, "Do you really think that I did anything to her?"

Altair unsheathed his knife and held it threateningly at Sabeh. "Do not think that I cannot kill you now." Sabeh put his hands up in surrender, "All I did was study her for a moment and then she awoke and in response to not knowing who I was, lashed out. Alright? I'm sorry for the trouble it caused you."

Altiar lowered the knife but didn't move his eyes from Sabeh's. "Stay out of her room." Sabeh frowned, Altair just _had_ to make it even harder than was necessary.

He turned from Sabeh, about to leave, when Sabeh's 'accent' stopped him. Altair finally realized the only other thing that truly bothered him. "Where are you from?" He didn't bother to turn to Sabeh as he replied.

"I'm from Damascus. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious."

That was all he said as he left Sabeh standing in front of the infirmary.

_Sabeh_

He watched Altiar leave and slowly he sighed, he had to do something other than kill Ru'yah in case Altair was suspicious of him. Especially since he was suspicious of his accent. Hell, knowing Altair, he probably already knew who he was, what he did and why he was there. Another sigh found it's way from Sabeh's lips as his mind swirled down in a whirlwind of thoughts that went completely against what he wanted. He'd just have to go and hail to his higher ups. See what they wished from him and, pray with all his might, that what _they_ wished, was what _he_ wished.

Turning on his heel, he left the infirmary and retraced his steps back to his own room for a good 'ol bit of sleep! He certainly needed it. The trek out to Masyaf had left him exhausted and in some dire need of sleep. There was also what to do with the young Miss Ru'yah. Some how those thoughts kept swirling back to the front of his mind.

Sabeh found himself torn; his higher ups wanted her dead, he knew this. But he didn't know if he could bring himself _to_ kill her. He'd definitely have to ask them, see if he could sway their decisions. Maybe they could keep her to get information out of her... But everything she knew currently, they knew... He sighed, once again, finding more flaws in his logic.

He knew any of these thoughts, if put into motion, could seriously hurt his image, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

He racked his brain for the one other thought that had been plaguing him all day... That's it! Subject's 16 and 17 were somehow interfering with her within the Animus. Well, interfering wasn't the right word, but still, they were interacting and messing up his higher-ups plans! But how was that _physically_ possible? No one within the organization had ever done that! So how were these two doing that? Especially after dying, brutally. And there was no way that 16 had access to where she was. And yet, he was talking to her. As was 17. Sabeh decided he was much more concerned with 17 though, he knew what happened because he'd lived through Altair's life. If he said anything, at all, to Ru'yah... The wrong anything, things could get real ugly. He could tell that she was already questioning her speech and how different she really was from every other girl in that time.

Sabeh shook his head, he was being ridiculous, putting so much thought into the well being of one girl. A girl who wouldn't be alive much longer once he was done with her.

But still...

As his echoing steps began to slow, he shook himself looking to where he'd come. His room. Good thing too.

He stepped in slowly and looked around, all his weapons were still there. At least the ones he could see were still there. Did no one come and check on him? Then again, no one else had suspicions of him except for Altair. At least that he knew of.

He entered fully and shut the door, peeking at the mirror his room had. He stared at the mask, his only comfort to the pain held within his soul. The plain white comforted him, knowing that his identity was nice and hidden from others. As he began to pull the mask from his face, he turned from the mirror and laid down on the bed praying he'd sleep with no interruptions.

* * *

><p>As Sabeh looked up to survey the area around him, he noticed one thing, the sky was deep purple. And there were no clouds in sight.<p>

The landscape around him was pretty bare compared to America, but there was one problem.

"You do realize that I can sense you, right?" And his night got worse...

The question was asked aloud as Sabeh turned to see subject 16 standing not even twenty feet from him. "I'm aware of the fact." 16 took a second as he studied the land around him, slowly turning in a slow 360 degree circle, he stopped as his eyes landed back on Sabeh's face, which was uncovered, at the moment.

"I see you haven't aged a day!" 16 began to chuckle assuming he would catch Sabeh off guard, but Sabeh too, laughed, "And you haven't either, though, you do look quite pale. How's being stuck within the guts of the animus working for you?" At the end of Sabeh's sentence, 16's laughter had died down and he was quietly staring at Sabeh.

Gathering his wits, 16 sneered at him, "It's been splendid, as a matter of fact." He began to stroll over to Sabeh, who tensed, and as 16 approached him he studied his features.

His facial structure was nothing to be noted of, only his crooked nose, which hadn't been there before. At least not the last time he'd seen him. Sabeh's hair was a light brown, borderline blond and hung loosely in his eyes, but not enough to hinder his vision. His eyes though, now those were a piece of work. A silver, most definitely uncommon amongst any who call them selves 'human'.

As 16 neared too close to Sabeh, his eyebrows knitted together, and his stance slouched into a fighter's stance. 16 held his hands up, showing he had no intention of fighting. "I'm not here to fight, but..." He let the empty offer hang in the quite air around them. "But, I've been visiting Allison." At the mention of her, Sabeh's face tightened up even more, if that was possible, and his eyes traced 16's every movement and more. "She's doing simply interesting. Did Vidic erase her memories?" A chuckle escaped 16's lips, "And just for the sake of one of his projects that are bound to fail." When Sabeh didn't say anything, 16 continued speaking and circling him. "Because she doesn't seem to remember _anything_. And if it wasn't for that damned Desmond, I'd have my answers by now."

As 16 passed his left side, Sabeh stepped right behind him, and spun on his heel. Before 16 could react, or realize what was happening, Sabeh grabbed his arms and forced his elbows to bend in and pressed his arms against his back, 16's hands toward the sky. "Don't. Talk about her."

16 elicited a small chuckle, "Sorry there, Cowboy. Didn't mean to hurt yer little heart there!" His voice took on a deep southern accent, and Sabeh pushed his arms together even more, straining both their muscles.

Sabeh stepped back after a moment, letting 16's arms drop to his side. "You know," In the blink of an eye 16 was thirty feet from him. "You're going to have to kill her. Vidic's orders. Otherwise, I hope you're prepared to explain _everything_ to her, and I mean _everything._ She needs to know what she's walking into when she wakes up one day and realizes that she's not back in 1191 A.D. That she's in 2013, and she's an Assassin. Granted she's already an official Assassin, just she'll have to adjust to the fact that there is no such thing as rank now a days." He thought for a moment before adding. "That she'll have to give up Altair. Because he's not there. It's your choice now, Piers. Either way, you ruin her life and her little perfect bubble of happiness!" 16 cackled at him because he knew this would be an issue for him.

With another blink of the eye, 16 was gone and Sabeh was waking up, gasping for breath in his bed.

_Ru'yah_

Sabeh shot up in bed, causing Ru'yah to jump back slightly, almost dropping the three lily's she held gingerly behind her back. He was reaching to his left when he looked at her, and really looked at her. "Ru'yah?"

She looked down a little, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks as she nudged the unmovable ground beneath her feet. "Sorry. I was going to give you these flowers, when I noticed you were still asleep." Sabeh was going to speak but Ru'yah hurried on with her explanation, cutting off anything he was going to say. "And I was going to leave after placing them on your bedside table, but you just looked so peaceful, and I was so glad to actually be able to see my saviors face, finally."

Ru'yah's blush intensified as she held out the flowers to him and smiled shyly.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he took the flowers from her, "Thank you, Ru'yah." She nodded as she began to back away, "Well, I will let you get back to sleep, you looked pretty passed out so..." She trailed off but stopped when she felt him grab her wrist gently. He decided he could, since he wasn't in her room, so why not?

"You don't have to go, I wasn't planning on going back to bed. Besides, I probably need to get up anyways." He smiled at her as he finished sitting up. He was waiting for her to say or do something, so when she didn't he looked to where he should put the flowers. A spot that had the most light. But where he could reach them easily and somewhere that was noticeable to others.

She stood there for a moment not really sure what to say, when a thought struck her. "I have a question that I would like to ask... If you do not mind that is..." He could tell she was fighting to talk like she should from that time. He looked back at her, "No. Go ahead, ask away." She sat on the end of his bed, twiddling her thumbs before she looked up at him. "Why did you save me?"

He fiddled his thumbs as he thought of how to answer her question. "Well... Because I saw that you needed help, and no one else was helping. So I though, why not?" He shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably.

"Oh..." As his answer sunk in, she blurted, "Why did Altair not try to?"

Sabeh rubbed the back of his head as he crossed his legs together. "Well. I cannot say I know... Ru'yah, you are probably better off asking Altair himself." Her eyes seemed to darken in sadness and he quickly changed the meaning of his words. "All I'm saying is that I can't answer for why he did not save you." He sighed. "You need to ask him personally why he did not." She began to speak, but he quieted her by placing his index finger over her lips. "Hey, I get that he's busy. But if he really cares about you, then he'll take the time to answer your question. No matter what he's doing."

She nodded and a small smile cracked across her lips as he let his finger drop. She slowly began to stand and make her way to the door on the other side of the room. "Alright then, I'll go and find him then." When he didn't say anything, she frowned and opened the door. "And Sabeh..." She hesitated in the doorway as she turned back to him and he turned to her. "Thank you, for saving me." She smiled at him, which he returned, and then she shut the door with a quite and gentle _click_.

As soon as she heard the bed groan, and no more noise, she slid down the door. Tears were beginning to fill her eyes and she had no clue why.

She felt she should know who he was, but yet, she couldn't place it.

So Sabeh couldn't answer her question, there's no point in crying about it. Like he said, Altair can probably explain it better to her.

But when she thought about it, she was probably scared of Altair's answer.

She was scared of the truth that could come from the answer he could give her.

And scared of the lie he could tell her to cover the truth.

She shook her head, what ever happened happened, she'd just have to accept that.

She silently sat, crying, outside of Sabeh's room. She couldn't control the sobs that wracked her body, so she let it out. She was careful so she wasn't too loud and woke Sabeh back up, she did NOT want to try to explain to him _why_ she was crying. She just let the sadness leave her body tear by tear. Once she had stopped crying, wiped her snotty nose on her sleeve and finally stood on shaky legs. She began to move in the direction of Altair's room. She'd figure out why he didn't save her and why Sabeh had been the one to save her. She'd take the truth, but she wouldn't take a lie if she noticed it. Better yet, she'd make sure Altair had no choice _but_ to tell her the truth.

Ru'yah couldn't shake the feeling that was weighting down on her heart that Sabeh wasn't telling them everything. He had to be hiding something, otherwise he wouldn't be acting so strange.

Questions of Sabeh began to form in her head and they bounced around giving her a slight head ache.

_Why would he save someone he doesn't know?_

_Why is he sticking around?_

_Could he be hiding something?_

_Could he possibly be someone to confide in about Desmond and 16?_

_Is he an enemy or a friend?_

_Did he spark some sort of feelings within her?_

_Why did he sound too foreign to be in this part of Syria?_

_Why did she recognize yet not recognize him?_

And with each question she seemed to gain another, but none of them gave her answers...

She felt like to an extent she was reading into it too much, but also that she wasn't reading enough into it. She didn't want this new man to be a problem for the Brotherhood, but she didn't want to make him seem like an enemy after just saving her life.

As her thoughts consumed her, her feet carried her to where she needed to go. As they normally did once she stopped paying full attention to the world around her.

But as she approached Altair's room, she got the feeling that he wasn't going to be in there. But she decided to check it out anyway, on the off chance that her feeling was wrong and he was in there. She really wanted him to be in there so she could talk to him in private. And she was really anxious to find out the truth behind his non-actions.

She knocked twice on his door and waited for a moment. There were no sounds of his feet padding across to open the door. She stood there silently hoping that he'd be in there, deciding she couldn't wait any more, she opened the door up slightly and peeked in. "Altair?" She scanned his room quietly. Nothing. He wasn't in there. Sigh. Her damnable feeling's were right, once again.

She groaned and shut his door. When she turned around, she almost ran smack into Sabeh, with Khalif right behind him. She was surprised to see him up, she had thought he'd gone back to bed... Oh... Did he hear her crying outside his door?! "I told you, Khalif, that she'd be here at Altair's door." He seemed to shake his head at her apprentice. Sabeh wasn't wearing his hood, and Ru'yah smiled to herself at his features. Once she caught herself smiling how she was smiling, she stopped. 'No! Bad, you already like Altair too much to be having feelings on someone else!'

"Master!" At Khalif's voice she shook herself. "Yes, Khalif?" He shook his head as Sabeh clapped him on the shoulder and left the two alone, his eyes lingering on Ru'yah. "Wait, Sabeh!" He turned on his heel, looking back at her, "I thought you had gone back to bed?" He shrugged, "I decided to stay up instead." He smiled once more before he turned again and left.

There was a slight tapping sound as she looked back down at Khalif who sighed at her. "Oh... Uh... What did you say?" She smiled at him and in turn he did too. He was used to how she acted.

"I said: Altair and Malik are looking for you! They are at the front, overlooking the fight rink." He rolled his eyes at her as she continued to not listen to him. He grabbed the crook of her elbow and began dragging her down the hall. "Let us go!" He looked back up at her and then behind them to where Sabeh was still currently at talking to another member of the Brotherhood. "And stop gawking at Sabeh! Gosh, you are such a female!"

"Yes? Sorry." A blush seeped into her cheeks as she followed Khalif who still held her elbow. As they turned a corner, obscuring her view of Sabeh, he let go of her elbow and decided to make some small chit-chat with her since he hadn't really gotten the chance to talk to her lately due to her injuries.

"How have you been, Master?" Ru'yah laughed seeing what he was planning on doing. "I'm as good as I can be since I keep getting my ass handed to me." The two chuckled at her as they neared the front of the building. "And how are you?" She came up behind him and rubbed the top of his head roughly with her knuckles.

He began chuckling, "I'm great, get..." He struggled, pushing against her arm. "Off me..." She let him go and he stumbled a step away from her. The two stared at each other until they both burst into bouts of laughter. Khalif was the first to stop laughing, "It is good to know that you a feeling well enough to be out of bed." The duo came to a stop as they exited the shelter of the Brotherhood's stronghold and came out into the blinding sun. Ru'yah held her hand up over her eyes as they adjusted.

"Yes. The pain subsided last night fairly fast. I just wish I wouldn't get injured so much and be such a liability to Altair." Khalif didn't reply, knowing it would be pointless to tell her that no one thought of her as a liability, especially not Altair.

Ru'yah's other hand was on her hip as she looked around, finally spotting the two down at the fighting rink. "There they are, let's go-" Khalif put a hand on her shoulder, stopping any words that were going to come from her.

"I'm going to go find Sabeh again, I got a couple questions I wanted to ask him." She nodded as he ran off and she turned back to Altair.

Suddenly she felt the butterflies kick up in her stomach and she groaned, "I do not need cold feet now!" She mumbled to herself, she decided to ignore her, once again, strange way to explain something.

She sighed and gathered her courage as she strolled up to the two. "Hello!" She smiled at both Altair and Malik in turn and quickly her smile fell as she saw the looks on their faces.

She couldn't tell if they were unhappy, serious or some other emotion that she wasn't quite aware of yet..

The pep in her step died down as she watched them. She sighed as she finally stood in front of them. "What happened now?" She crossed her arms over chest as Altair and Malik looked from one to the other.

"Well... Ru'yah..." Malik seemed to fidget in his spot, an odd thing for Malik, she glanced at Altair. Even Altair seemed tenser than he normally was. "We don't want to upset you, or alarm you, but we have reason to believe that Sabeh is not what he seems."

Ru'yah couldn't help herself, she scoffed. "So... what? Are you guys upset that Sabeh, a total stranger, saved me when _you_ yourselves could not?" She stopped, taken aback at her own anger, but she couldn't seem to deter from it. It seemed to almost engulf her.

Malik sighed. "No. That's not it." He sighed again, "Have you not seen how he acts around anyone?"

Ru'yah laughed, "You mean a little nervous? Yes, I've noticed. If I were him, I would be too." Altair narrowed his eyes at her as Malik only sighed (once again). "Are you alright Ru'yah? This is not like you to be so... upset about this kind of news."

She shook her head at him, "I'm not upset, I'm angry." Malik looked around them making sure they weren't bringing attention to themselves. "Why?"

She looked from one to the other, "You both are judging him. I can tell. I know you do not like him Altair, which is something I need to talk to you about. And you are just agreeing with him Malik."

Altair scoffed, "You will not talk to me like that as your superior." Ru'yah backed down as she heard his tone. 'He is _not_ pulling that bullshit card on me! Ah, _hell _no!'

Altair continued, his anger not even lessening at all, "And you know what? Since you seem to be so upset about _Sabeh_, a total stranger, being a potential enemy..." Malik looked at Altair,

"Maybe this is a bad time to bring this news to her..." There was caution in Malik's voice, but Altair, pumped up with a bit of anger towards Ru'yah, just kept on going. "That it might surprise you, but Khalif isn't what he seems either." With that Altair turned on his heel and walked away, Malik followed him trying to stop him so the three could talk it out.

Ru'yah stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. A million and one questions spinning through her head.

_What did I just say to them?_

_Did I get _angry_ at _Altair_?_

_Sabeh might not be here to truly help us?_

_Khalif, my apprentice, might not be totally in league with us?_

'What in the hell just happened?'

There were more, but those were just too much for Ru'yah to handle. She stumbled back as she watched Altair storm into the stronghold and get swallowed up by the other Assassin's.

Without thinking she ran backwards and at the stronghold. Finding her hand and footholds easily, she climbed the tower, a little slower than usual, but hey, she was upset! What did you want from her?

As she climbed, the sky slowly darkened. And her pace seemed to slow, her muscles weren't responding as well as they normally did. Damn, she needed to start climbing more often. Soon enough it was completely dark and the moon, full that night, began to rise above her, casting shadows in the night. The stars shone brightly along with the moon and Ru'yah fought the tears and the mental break down that was threatening her.

As she reached the top she sat down and began to go over her few questions as the break of dawn happened.

"_What did I just say to them? _What I just said should never have been said. But... I said what I felt... I said the truth, did I not?" She shook her head, moving to the next question.

"_Did I get _angry_ at_ Altair_?_ I did. And not only that, but I defended a complete and total stranger over someone I know!" As that hit her she realized one small factor. "Me and Altair seem to fight more after something legitimately big happens to us..."

"_Sabeh might not be here to truly help us?_ He has to be! He wouldn't have helped me if he wasn't! He wouldn't even be here at all if he wasn't! Right?" Her thoughts faltered on her, maybe she wasn't right, maybe Altair was right...

"_Khalif, my apprentice, might not be totally in league with us? _How could that be?! I found him on the streets for crying out loud!.. Found him on the streets... Was that a... Set-up?" She frowned and started to shake with her sobs. She was so confused with what was real and what wasn't!

To add to it, Desmond and 16 hadn't appeared lately... That was good right? Right?

As her tears dried up, she wiped her eyes and cheeks, yanked up her hood and began her descent to the bottom.

She wasn't going to avoid it, she was going to find Altair no matter what it took, apologize to him and then ask him her question. She wouldn't worry about all the other fine print. She just needed one answer for the night.

Once her feet touched solid ground, she took off sprinting towards the stairs, she took them two at a time, rounded left and took the next set two at a time. As she ascended and caught sight of Altair's hooded head, she started shouting to him. She couldn't ever explain why she started to yell, she just felt it had the right dramatic effect.

"Altair! Don't move! I _have_ to talk to you!" His head snapped up in surprise as she came sprinting at his table and _almost_ toppled over it onto him.

"Calm down, Ru'yah. Get your breath together and then you better be coming to tell me someone died. I am not to positive I can handle talking to you right now." She looked at him for a moment as a bit of regret flashed across but she shook it off. He'd give in, she knew he would.

She bent over and regained her breath. "I'm sorry." Altair started to try to tell her it was okay, but she cut him off. "No, let me get this out." He shut his mouth and waited for her. "I'm really, really sorry that I blew up on you. I thought it out and realized that I had no reason to do that to you especially because of how much you truly care about me. And after how much you have helped me. And I put what you told me to thought, you're right, both of them act so much weirder than they should around here. But I do not want to believe they have hurtful intents just yet, if they do, they do not plan to act upon them yet. And Khalif. I thought it was actually very odd how I found him. It was just too convenient that he's such a likable kid..." She added: "and to think I named him partially after my father." Under her breath and prayed Altair didn't catch it. "And in the end he's going to turn out to be probably the worst person in my life right now..." She stared at him as he took in her apology. He sighed as he sat back down.

"It is alright. I did not expect that kind of reaction from you. But it is okay."

Ru'yah sighed, relieved that he forgave her. "Thank you..." They smiled at each other glad that they were okay once again. "I've got a question..."

Altair looked up at her, "Go on..."

She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, "Well, I wanted to know... Why did you not save me from Abbas?"

There was no facial reaction from him that could give away anything as he sat there and considered her question. "I could not." She looked at him as he stared at her. "There was no way I could get to Abbas to kill him before he killed you. So I decided, I would stay by you so you were not alone in the end." Ru'yah nodded glad that he had been honest with her.

"Okay." She smiled at him as she saw the sadness take him. Surprising not only him, but herself as well, she hugged him tightly. "It is alright since I know that if you could have done something, it would have been done." She whispered in his ear and then slowly she pulled away from him smiling.

She turned from him, ready to leave when he spoke up. "Wait. I need to give this to you now." She turned back to him a giant question mark plastered on her face.

"Why? And what is it?"

Altair dug around his draws searching for the thing Umar had given him earlier. "Here it is! Now because it just feels right and it is a charm from your father." He stood up and approached her, and without letting her deter him, he slid the charm over her head, pushing her hood back as he went.

She looked down at it as it settled between her beasts over her robes. She reached up and turned it toward her, seeing it to be the Brotherhood's symbol. "This... came from my father?"

Altair nodded, "My father gave it to me and told me to make sure I gave it to you. He said he found it on your fathers desk with his note to him..." Ru'yah smiled to herself as she held the small charm close to her chest. "Thank you." She smiled at him and he nodded at her as he returned to his seat and she slowly returned to her room.

* * *

><p>Ru'yah's eyes snapped open and she stood up fast and spun around seeing the all too familiar scenery that she wished she wasn't seeing. "No! Why now?!"<p>

It was the 'Animus'. As Desmond and 16 had both called it.

She glanced down, yep! A red knee length dress, with, she never would have guessed, no straps! She sighed looking around. No one else was there so why the hell was she there?!

Time passed in this alternate dimension as she sat quietly debating all possibilities of why she was there. No one had showed up, 16 has harassed her and Desmond hasn't tried helping her...

She stood up sighing as she went and frowned. "Screw it, I'm walking around!" She took off to the left and just walked aimlessly, she wasn't too concerned with where she'd end up, she knew she wouldn't end up anywhere!

But as she walked, she saw someone else, just standing there. And their figure looked a little familiar to her. As she drew closer, she finally recognized them.

"Sabeh?"

He turned to face her, confirming her guess. She put her walls up as she approached him, refusing to mess up if he was indeed not there to help them.

He looked surprised to see her and a little... concerned? Why would he be concerned? She was the one who was concerned!

"What are you doing here?" Both of them spoke the same words at the same time and both shut their mouths at the same time. "You first." Ru'yah beat him too it.

"I don't know. I've honestly never been here before! You?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, she could hear the different pitch in his voice and she saw his face, did he _really_ think he could lie to her? People these days.

"You can't lie to me. I'm not stupid. You know where we're at." She stuck her hip out to the side and placed her hands on her hips.

He sighed. "I don't think your stupid. I just didn't know if you'd been in here before."

She sighed and tapped her foot. "Yet another lie."

He laughed, "You girls are too intuitive."

She gave him a sarcastic smile. "Now, what the hell are you doing in here?"

He looked down at the floor, "I'm not actually from 1191 AD." She cut him off with a dramatic laugh, "Really now?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Really. I'm from 2013." He didn't add anything else so Ru'yah took that as her chance to start asking him questions.

"That doesn't tell me what you're doing in here or why your in 1191 AD." You do realize that Altair is onto you, by the by."

She glared at him as he sat down, "Well, funny story actually. You know how I saved you?" She nodded getting impatient. "Well, I was actually supposed to make sure you died... That or kill you myself if for whatever reason Abbas didn't kill you first." Seeing how she continued to stare at him he quieted down as he fiddled his thumbs. "Whoops?" He chuckled nervously.

"Why didn't you?" He laughed, "Why didn't I what?" He was obviously trying to dodge the subject. She sighed exasperatedly at him. "Why didn't you kill me yourself?" He gasped in mock horror and put his hand over his lips.

"Are you not happy that I saved your life?" She glared at him again and he raised his arms in defense, "Okay, okay. I didn't because I couldn't. The way Abbas was? Hell no could I pass up the opportunity to kill him! He practically walked right into his death!"

Ru'yah groaned loudly. "Here you go again just sprouting lies as you sit upon your _throne_ made out of them!" She turned from him, her dress swishing, and put her head in her hand and rubbed her temples.

He studied the way her dress swished as he contemplated his next words, very carefully.

"You're tired of my attempt at lying to you, no?"

She looked back at him and gasped, mocking him. Her eyes narrowed as she stared him down. "As a matter of fact, I've been tired of your attempts to lie! They're obviously not working." He stood up and flashed her a 250 watt smile. "Good, cause you deserve the truth."

Ru'yah thought her jaw hit the floor when he spoke those words. "Oh, really?"

"Yes really. Believe me, my life is nothing but lies and deceit. I'm quite frankly pretty tired of it." He gave a little chuckle. He watched her for her reaction, when nothing happened besides her mouth still being flopped open.

"For the most part, this is all pretty damned true, I'll let you pick out the lies. But first a little fact about yo-" He was interrupted suddenly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What are you doing there 'Sabeh'?"

Ru'yah and Sabeh both turned to find 16 standing not too far from them. And by the looks of it, he'd heard the whole conversation.

"I would think I should be asking the same of you, 16." 16 began strolling casually over to the two of them, "Now that's where your wrong. Again."

Both Sabeh and Ru'yah slouched into a fighting stance, ready for anything from 16. "How am I wrong?" 16's laughter rang through the empty space around the three.

"How are you not? You're meddling in something that should not even be possible to meddle in now. But... Someone forgot whose side they're on. Didn't they?" 16 stared straight into Sabeh's eyes.

"I think you forgot too, 16." Desmond seemed to materialize out of nothing right in front of Sabeh and Ru'yah. He stood ready to defend the two even though they probably could have handled 16 their selves.

"Desmond! How kind of you to join us! And I'm afraid, I don't know what your talking about." 16's smug grin enraged Sabeh.

Desmond stepped back, making sure he would be able to reach both of the two behind him in case things got a little bit too ugly. "I think you do. About a lot. You've also seemed to forget about whose side you are on. Shall I remind you?"

16 giggled, "There's no need to remind me! I already know, and I'm not meddling unlike the scum bag behind you." Desmond glanced behind him at Sabeh.

He sighed as he looked back up to 16 and met his eyes. "You're meddling in fate. There is a reason that the two of them are here. And you're forgetting that your an Assassin. Not a Templar." Desmond seemed to look at him in such desperation. He seemed to really believe that 16 wasn't a Templar.

Sabeh shook his head sadly, "He's not. He hasn't been since Lucy survived and you seemed to save everything, which resulted in you being captured by the Templars."

Ru'yah looked at him in surprise, "How do you know all this?!"

He turned to her, "I told you, I'm not from your time. I'm very caught up in things going on outside of here."

Ru'yah looked at him, her eyebrows crinkling in towards each other in confusion. "You mean the Animus?"

Sabeh looked at him, "You know what this is?!" His eyes seemed to light up in hope.

"Yes she does. She has to know something after your familiars erased her memories so they could stick her in here in the middle of this mess." Desmond tossed a glare in Sabeh's direction. He easily sent one back. "Look, I promise I will explain _everything _to you. Just maybe not now."

Desmond spun to face him, "No! You will tell her everything, and I mean _everything_, right here and right now!"

As Desmond's back was turned, 16 jumped on his chance to get him. Ru'yah swiftly stepped in front of Desmond as he too turned to see what she was doing.

16 ran right into Ru'yah's fist as she punched him cleanly in the nose, a spurt of blood and then nothing. 16 flew back from the force of her punch and he stood on shaky legs wiping his nose. Desmond put a hand on her shoulder, "I'll handle him." He turned back to Sabeh, his hand still on her shoulder.

"You. Talk. Now." He glanced back at Ru'yah who smiled lightly at him, and he dashed forward to 16.

She turned back to Sabeh. "Alright. Let's jump into this pot full of shit then." She sat down and he silently sat down next to her.

"I guess I'll start with the Templars and Assassins. I'm sure you probably figured you could stop the Templars back in 1191, right?" She nodded. "Well you don't. This feud has been going on for centuries now. It's still currently happening, even though the Templars are openly know as Abstergo Industries. They make all kinds of products that I hope you would recognize had you'd seen them." He took a deep breath. "You are from 2013, I promise. But after Desmond saved the world, and supposedly killed Vidic, he was kidnapped by a couple Templars who found him passed out in a cave."

Sabeh looked back up to Desmond and 16 whose fight seemed more like a dance then a fight.

"They threw him back into the Animus, which allows you to sift through an ancestors memories, in his case that's Altair's. They soon found you and forced some kind of drink down your throat that has caused you amnesia. They've been monitoring you for months now. They were looking for something, and they would have found it when you were killed within here."

Her eyes got big, "That's why you saved me!" He nodded, "Yes. The truth is, I work for Abstergo, but I know what they want. I know what they were looking for." He sighed.

"What are they looking for?" She batted her eyes at him.

He laughed, "That's funny. This could freak you out... Don't. They're looking for Ru'yah's descendent with Altair." She squeaked. "Some how, ever since Ru'yah and Altair bore a child together, there's always been a descendent from each."

Ru'yah crinkled her forehead. "Wait. Answer one question."

"What's that?" He was hoping she'd caught onto his not referring to her as Ru'yah.

"What's my real name?" (WHOOP DAR IT IS!)

Sabeh smiled lightly, "It's Allison. And mine is Piers."

"Allison... I like it. What do you mean by 'there's always been a descendent from each'."

Piers frowned. "Okay, so the two bore a child. But, that caused a major problem for the Order. So, Ru'yah, without Altair knowing, left taking the child with her. The child, a girl, was raised as an Assassin, and eventually placed within a different part of the Brotherhood. Usually it was five generations before the descendents from Ru'yah would find a descendent from Altair. When they would, much like Ru'yah and Altair, they would slowly bond, through pain and eventually love. And each time a child would be born between them. But each time, problems would arise, and the mother and child would leave. Except, Ru'yah found her way back to Altair and the two had two more children, two boys. Sef and Darim."

Allison nodded. "So, what does this have to do with anything?"

Piers smiled sadly, "They want to know if your the next descendent of Ru'yah to have a child with Desmond, the descendent of Altair."

Allison looked back at Desmond. Then back to Sabeh. Then back to Desmond. She watched the beaded sweat of his fight with 16 drip down his forehead. After a moment, she turned back to Piers.

"How do you know this?"

He shook his head. "I can't tell you that."

She pouted, "Desmond made it clear that you had to tell me everything."

He shrugged. "Well, I don't feel that all of it is necessary, some things have to be discovered on their own." She shook her head at him.

"That's ridiculous." He shrugged yet again, "It happens to be the cold hard truth too."

She shook her head, "I know."

The two sat in silence until Allison looked back to him. "You said, that you were a Templar. Does that mean you're not now?" Piers didn't say anything as he thought.

"I don't know what that makes me. Honestly. I guess I'll just let what happens happen." She nodded, "So why'd they choose you?"

"Well, Abstergo came to me, and this was when I was a comic book artist for Marvel, they somehow traced from a descendent from Altair, not with a descendent from Ru'yah, to me. The didn't tell me who I come from though... They figured I'd be the easiest to slip into Ru'yah's life as you relived it. And guess what? It worked for them..."

Allison and Piers sat in silence as she took in what he'd told her. "How'd it work for you?" She glanced at him as she squeezed the question out. He scoffed looking to the plain white sky.

"Horribly, if you must know." She shook her head, "I don't _need_ to know, I was just curious why there was an underlying meaning behind your words."

Piers scoffed again, "Yeah, the underlying meaning happens to be that my own _girlfriend_, now _ex-_girlfriend, was the Templar that traced from Altair to me." He looked down as he finished, "I'm sorry."

He waved his hand as if he could wave her 'sorry' off. "It's cool. She was a bitch anyways." Allison laughed.

"You know, I'm glad you finally told me all this. Now a lot of odd things make a lot more sense!" He chuckled, "I bet."

A scream resounded from behind them, they hopped up and turned to see what was the matter.

16 was kneeling in front of Desmond who was looking sheepish. "Give up?" 16 spit at him and disappeared in a poof of nothingness.

Desmond turned to them. "He tell you?" She nodded. "You know you can't tell Altair, right? Anything."

She nodded, "I figured."

* * *

><p>Altair stared out the window. He never thought that a Templar would be right under their noses. 'Two Templars.' He hastily corrected himself.<p>

He shuffled some papers together and banged them against the table twice to get them neat. He stood slowly, he'd have to confront them. And now.

If not for the Brotherhood.

For her...

* * *

><p>Desmond, Allison and Piers sat quietly in a circle. The three were waiting to be shipped back to their rightful places by the Animus. But as time dragged on, they three began to worry.<p>

_Why weren't they going back?!_

But little did they know, that the Animus had a plan all on it's own.

In a flash of white light, Allison's necklace began glowing faintly, Desmond's ring began glowing faintly and a faint glow began under the glove of Piers' left hand.

"Ummm, does this normally happen?!"

* * *

><p>Suddenly, as Altair was making his way to Khalif, his bracer's Assassin symbol began to glow.<p>

"What is this?"

* * *

><p>As Khalif calmly planned the Brotherhood's demise, the hidden Templar cross under shirt began to glow a faint red.<p>

A cruel smile crept across his face.

"It's time."

* * *

><p>AOS118: AND... SCENE! I got this one out at 1:30 in the AM just for y'all! Hope you LOVE it :) Shit is hitting the fan! :D<p> 


	13. Chapter 12: HOLLY HELLY

So... I thought I'd give y'all a little update :) It's not much, but it's something so that y'all can see that I'm trying. This is literally ALL I have, but I thought it'd be better than nothing :) 3 you all!

DISCLAIMER: I DONT OWN MUCH BUT I DO OWN SOME

* * *

><p>Tears of the Rain<p>

Chapter 12 (LE GASP)

Trying

_In the last chapter..._

_As Khalif calmly planned the Brotherhood's demise, the hidden Templar cross under his shirt began to glow a faint red. _

_A cruel smile crept across his face._

"_It's time."_

* * *

><p><em>Allison<em>

Allison, Desmond and Piers were standing, staring at their items that were glowing.

"What the hell is happening?" Allison looked from Desmond to Piers and then back to her charm under her shirt.

Desmond frowned, "There's no telling."

Piers gasped as he looked at Allison. The same faint glow that was around their items, was encasing her. She was slowly lifted into the air and she began to grab at Piers' outstretched hand. "Piers!"

"Allison!"

_**She is not meant to know.**_

"What?" Allison frowned, scared shitless at the moment. "Please tell me you guys are playing some asshole kind of a joke on me!"

Desmond laughed slightly hysterical. "I wish I could, but..."

_**Not yet. **_

_**You can not interfere.**_

_**This is the price you shall pay.**_

The voice was deep and it circled around Allison's thoughts, also playing outside of her mind allowing Piers and Desmond to hear it too. "What price?!"

"Allison!" She looked at both of the boys. She looked down to her hands and saw that she was slowly turning invisible. "What's happening to me?! Please don't let this happen!" She continued to reach for Piers' hand.

Desmond and Piers slowly disappeared from her line of sight and the world around her turned black.

* * *

><p><em>Allison<em>

Once again and probably not for the last time, I found myself floating. It was pitch black, there was a gentle breeze that caressed my skin and tossed my hair around lightly.

I opened my eyes. It was pretty much the same with my eyes closed. I took inventory of my limbs, I had them all. And I was laying at a forty five degree angle, my arms and legs were limp, my knees and elbows bent. My arms were hanging below me, my hands hovering by my hips.

I looked slowly to the right, trying to see if there was anything near me.

There was nothing.

It was just a black void with me floating in the middle of it.

I looked back in front of me, there was still nothing there.

I sighed closing my eyes again. 'Where exactly am I? Is this another part of the Animus?!'

_**You could say that.**_

My eyes snapped open. 'Who said that?!'

_**I did.**_

I looked to the right. Nothing. I looked to the left. Nothing.

There was a light chuckle. _**You have much to learn.**_

'Who are you? Please. Show yourself!' There was a light blue glow below me, I looked down. My charm was glowing! Oh my goodness! It floated up in front of me and it shifted from just an emerald stone on a light rope to a black rope. The rope was tightly braided with little pebbled sized onyx stones placed in it. The rope was connected by a black sword hilt with light blue intricate swirls woven into it. From the sides of the hilt, the stone extended out then curved back in with an emerald being the blade of the sword. There were lightly blue swirls woven into the emerald like the stone.

_**I am your guide. Your protector.**_

'That doesn't exactly tell me who you are... So for all I know is that you're my charm, at least that's what I'm guessin'.' Another chuckle resounded in my ears. This guy was being seriously cryptic.

_**You are right, Allison. My true form is that of a Dark Angel. But in order to help you, I take the form of your pendant.**_

The pendant in front of me exploded into a bright white light in which I proceeded to cover my eyes with my arms. When the light faded and I dropped my arms; what, no who, I saw before me took my breath away.

He was absolutely stunning. Much more so than Altair. He was Gorgeous. Any adjective in the world would never be able to compare to him.

He looked to be about twenty-six years of age, maybe about six feet, three or five inches tall. He had bright blue eyes, his hair was pitch black and hung right above his eyes. He was that lightly muscled kind of guy, not the grossly buff type.


End file.
